McLaren steers itself clear from any political inference over Donald Trump’s visit to their garage in F1 Miami GP, as Lando Norris expands on their talks.
Even before the start of the F1 Miami GP, McLaren were in hot waters especially on social media when former President of the United States of America Trump visits its garage and met with team boss Zak Brown among other dignitaries from Liberty Media and Formula 1.
Just as the grand prix was ongoing, McLaren were quick with their statement, clearing its name away from any political inference it may have made. Trump has a legal case ongoing against him and has largely been away from any public appearances.
With him visiting the Miami GP and also in the garage of McLaren, it sparked social media outrage where fans were disappointed with the sport and the team giving him a large platform. “McLaren is a non-political organisation however we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States,” the team wrote in a statement.
“So when the request was made to visit our garage on race day we accepted alongside the president of the FIA and the CEO’s of Liberty Media and Formula 1. We were honoured that McLaren Racing was chosen as the representative of F1 which gave us the opportunity to showcase the world class engineering that we bring to motorsport.”
Post-race, Trump also congratulated Norris for his maiden F1 win, while claiming himself to be the lucky charm in a light-hearted conversation. They were accompanied by FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem in the parc ferme during the interviews.
Norris only met Trump then as before the race, the Brit was busy in his race preparations. The latest F1 winner has also received flak for his comments in respect of the American. “I didn’t see him in the garage, to be honest,” he said. “I was busy prepping for the race. But he saw me after, and he came up to congratulate me.
“So I guess an honour, because whenever you have someone like this, it has to be an honour for them to come up to you, to take time out of their life, to pay their respect for what you’ve done. He said he was my lucky charm because it’s my win. So I don’t know if he’s going to come to more races now.
“But yeah, there’s a lot of special people or cool people that have been here this weekend. Donald is someone that you got to have a lot of respect for in many ways. And yeah, for anyone like that who acknowledges what you can go out and do and acknowledges the work ethic that goes into things, you got to be thankful for that. And I was. So yeah, a cool moment. And that’s all.”
Meanwhile, Trump took to Instagram to state: “It was a great honor to see my friends at McLaren win the big Miami Formula 1 race. It was the car I visited before the race, and Endorsed — that’s what we need for our Country — WINNING!”
Story: https://www.instagram.com/stories/realdonaldtrump/3361571752817890949/
Here’s how F1 Miami GP panned out
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