Lando Norris expands on ‘talks crap’ mention post his win in Brazil, as he says it was not directed to any one in particular and that he will say how he wants.
For few years now, McLaren’s Norris has been on the receiving end on social media. He has more people against him in some ways than Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who have had fierce competition in recent times. Even in the current season, the Brit faces more criticism than teammate Oscar Piastri.
Off-late, it has increased due to various reasons, where a lot believe that McLaren is favouring Norris over Piastri. The case in Monza only fueled the dislike towards the Brit, which has resulted in continuous boos during interviews and podium. The ‘papaya rules’ has its naysayers on social media.
They feel it is used to help Norris, while when Piastri needs it, McLaren escapes using certain self-made loopholes. In Brazil, Norris faced crowd booing him, which followed on from Mexico. Having extended his points lead on the Australian to 24, the Brit noted to ignore people to ‘talk crap’.
“Just ignore everyone that talks crap about you,” said Norris, on his mantra of newfound success. “Yeah, just focus on yourself and, you know, the team… McLaren are doing an amazing job, giving me a great car. We’re pushing hard every single weekend and I’m pushing hard away from the track. So, rewarding. Rewarding — it doesn’t come easy, that’s for sure.
“And to be honest, I don’t think we were the quickest out there on track in Brazil, but glad to take home the win.” When pressed on who it was directed at, Norris played down naming anyone, but generalised the situation naming everyone who does so. He feels he is portrayed in a certain way in the media and that he cared a bit too much at the start of the year when said things – whether good or bad.
He stated that he doesn’t want to sound rude, but whatever he believes in. “Yeah, honestly, nothing in particular,” stated Norris. “But there’s always people out there that try and bring you down a little bit. I guess it’s quite normal. But yeah, also, when you’re on a big stage, there’s a lot of people that talk and say things, try and influence other people to have effects.
“Even the cheers and the not-cheers—you still hear it. It’s not the nicest thing. But I think it’s something I’ve done well over the last few months. I care a lot about people’s perspectives and how I’m portrayed and things in the media. I probably cared too much—even at the beginning of the year, I think I cared too much, and probably it was affecting me in not the best ways.
“I’ve just learned to deal with those things better—not by not caring, because I still always want to have a good impression. I never want to be rude or do those things. But I’ll always try and make my point and say what I believe in. That’s one of the things I’ve learned the most: just to be true to yourself, have confidence in yourself, believe in yourself, and speak your mind. So yeah, it’s more just keeping my head down and concentrating on myself,” summed up Norris.
In a response to his statement about ‘not being favourite in Las Vegas’, Norris was casual in noting that he can say whatever he want to say and what comes on his mid. The journalist asked him if his comment about not being favourite is some sort of a mindset thing that he wants to say for people to believe, even though he is the leader in the championship.
“No, I can say what I want,” continued Norris. “I can think what I want. I’d say what I always am. I always try and be as honest as I can be. If I don’t think we’re going to be quick, I don’t think we’re going to be quick. And I’m not saying I’m going to be 10th. I’m just saying I think it’s going to be difficult to win. We were a long way off—just go and look at the data from last year. Look at the race traces—we were miles off. There have been plenty of races where we’ve not been quick enough this year.
“It’s not like we’ve won every single race and you’re expecting me to say those things. I’m just giving my opinion on whether I think it’s going to be easy. I won Mexico by 30 seconds—like, very, very easy. I won in Brazil by pushing a lot more, only 10 seconds, and Max was probably the quickest out on track. Do I think that at a track that we’ve never been good at—we were very good here two years ago, we almost challenged Max for the win—we’ve never been good in Vegas.
“So why am I going to think, “Yeah, it’s going to be fine”? I’m giving my honest opinion on how I think we’re going to be. We’ve never been good there, so I’m not the most confident about going into that race. Maybe I’ll win—then we’ll see. But I’m not going to lie and say, “Yeah, I’m very confident, and I think it’s going to be an easy weekend,” because I don’t think that’s how it’s going to be. So no—I mean, you’re very right to have your own opinion on what you think I should say and what I should not say and whatever, but I’ll do what I like,” summed up Norris.
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