Lando Norris reacts to boos he received after winning F1 Mexico GP, as he notes about the dominant run in the weekend.
It was all Norris show during F1 Mexico GP weekend where the McLaren driver came close to a grand slam but for the fastest lap. He had pole by a good margin and took the win by just over 30s margin, to retake the points lead by one point over teammate Oscar Piastri.
The low grip surface helped Norris along with the low speed nature. “I think it’s the one where I just performed the best,” he said on the win. “I don’t know, dominant or not, but it’s the one where I think I’ve just performed best throughout, from FP2 all the way to the end of the race. In a way, I think it’s just my best performance through a whole weekend.
“All my laps in qualifying, all my practice, all my race. So, yeah. I mean, the car is just quick. It has been the whole season, but clearly, it’s still difficult to drive at times. But I think when you just find that sweet spot, it can be down the road and make your life a bit easier. So, I don’t know. It’s hard to say, like, what’s better about mine than the others, but I’ve just had a bit more grip, and that’s normally always the easiest answer.
“I think to win anywhere is pretty good. I mean, to win here is also very special. I mean, with the stadium and everything, it’s one of the coolest podiums of the season. Yeah, probably along with Monaco, Monza, Silverstone, that kind of thing. So it’s pretty special. And, of course, for the first time, you know, since Senna won here, it’s nice to bring McLaren back to the winning ways here, obviously, for such a long time.
“And to have my name anywhere close to someone like that is pretty special. So, yeah, something that’s always nice to look at and I’m sure to look back on in ten, twenty years is pretty cool too. So that’s great,” summed up Norris, who initially lost his lead to Charles Leclerc for the briefest of moment going into Turn 1 before regaining it after the Monegasque went off.
They were four-wide at one point, but Norris didn’t realise it even after the grand prix. It was the only moment of some issue for the Brit as post that, he checked out the competition. “I don’t know, I’ve not seen the replay or anything,” said Norris. “I didn’t know we were four-wide. I just went in first and I came out third, I think. So that was the most I saw, but I don’t know.
“I’ve not actually seen a replay, so I need to go and rewatch it. But, you know, Mexico, Turn 1 is always eventful every single season. I don’t know if having such a good start helped me or didn’t. It definitely gave me a good length of time, with some breathing space and being able to position the car a little bit more how I need and how I want. But I still had to attack into one.
“I knew the others around me were going to attack, so it wasn’t an easy one. But, yeah, I kept to the head and was pretty straightforward from there. I just didn’t need to. I was definitely tempted, but it wasn’t needed. No point for a fastest lap or anything anymore, so didn’t have to,” summed up Norris. It was all plain sailing on track, but off it, he had boos that he had to hear.
It was the first he did. Even in Monza he had to hear some of it. In the press conference, Norris was explained that the Mexican fans were asked in a poll about where fans believed that the Brit was being handed the championship after what transpired in Monza and they want him to give back the three extra points that he took away from Piastri.
Norris was relaxed about the situation where his defensive mode kicked in, which is that he started laughing. “Oh, sour [win?]. I like sour sweets. I don’t know why, to be honest. People can do what they want, honestly. They have the right to do it if they want to do it. So I think that’s sport sometimes. I don’t know why I can’t stop laughing when I get booed. I think it makes it more entertaining for me.
“So, yeah, they can keep doing it if they want. Of course, you don’t want it. I prefer if people cheer for me. But I don’t know. Who knows? Like I said, I just concentrate on doing my things. It was the same in, what, Monza and a few other places. So, yeah. I don’t know why. I just can’t stop laughing. So, if they want to continue they can. Sure.
“If they want to think that, then they certainly have the right to—they can think whatever they want. Yeah. I guess from us as a team, of course, we try and do things fairly. That was the comments we made back then. The same with, two years ago in Budapest when I could have won the race and had to let Oscar back through and let him win a race he deserved to win. It was no different to that really.
“It was an incorrect decision that we made as a team to box him first—and, or me first here. And, yeah, to be honest, if you want to have the three points, they can. But they have the right to think whatever they want. But, yeah, like Oscar deserved the win last year in Budapest, I deserve to be ahead at Monza. Simple as that,” summed up Norris.
Team boss Andrea Stella had praise for Norris and him utilising the conditions to his benefit, outscoring teammate Piastri, who struggled to get to a groove. He also stressed on it helping McLaren’s morale after recent dip against Red Bull, which allowed Max Verstappen to catch up.
“I think when we look at Landos’ recent years, we have seen a weekend with this level of dominance also in some other venues,” said Stella to media. “Like last year, I think we saw it in Zandvoort. We saw it in Singapore. So it’s not the first time I feel that Lando exhibits performances at this level. Here he was very convincing. I think he was just essentially fastest in every single session. He was able to capitalize on the performance and the strength of the car.
“In a way, these special low-grip conditions, they fit perfectly with his natural way of extracting lap time, which is almost like opposite to Oscar’s characteristics. And I think it will just strengthen Landos’ confidence and it will be important for the final four races. But I think both Lando and Oscar go into the final four races with reasons to be confident.
“And I think the team also goes into the final four races with more understanding of how to extract performance from the car consistently, because over the last few races before Mexico, at times we have left some performance in the garage.”
Here’s race start: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-mexico-city-grand-prix-norris-keeps-the-lead-after-four-car-turn-1-battle-on-lap-1.1847076761872075909
Here’s Lando Norris winning: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-mexico-city-grand-prix-norris-takes-the-victory-and-the-championship-lead.1847090972803372088
Here’s how F1 Mexico GP panned out
Here’s Andrea Stella on potential issues with Oscar Piastri
Here’s Andrea Stella on stopping development