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The 25-year-old McLaren has now been booed at two Grands Prix this season after standing on the podium, The Sun reports. The first came in September in Monza where Ferrari’s boisterous Tifosi fanbase booed him as he came second in controversial circumstances. Fox Sports, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every practice, qualifying session and race in the 2025 FIA Formula One World Championship™ LIVE in 4K. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. Norris’ post-race interview was then interrupted after he won Monday morning’s race in Mexico City, with more grumbling from fans, which you can hear in the video below. After his victory in Mexico on Monday (AEDT), Norris was rendered momentarily speechless during his post-race interview as boos descended from the crowd. Sky Sports commentator David Croft said: “The crowd in the stadium loved seeing Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, there were a few boos there for Lando Norris. “What have the Mexican crowd got against Lando Norris, I wonder?” Karun Chandhok added: “Did he have a rivalry with (Sergio) Perez? I genuinely don’t know. I mean, I hate booing anyway. I hated it when people booed Max. I think it’s just wrong. “Lando’s done an outstanding job and should be applauded.” Norris received more boos when we walked onto the podium. Croft said: “He’s smiling and nothing is going to stop his smiles this afternoon.” The main reason for the booing appears to be the wild conspiracy theories about McLaren sabotaging Oscar Piastri in favour of Norris. It is thought that the jeers in Monza were due to the team order chaos late on when Piastri was asked by McLaren to swap back places due to Norris’ slow 5.9 second pit stop. It left Norris undercut by teammate Piastri and seemed another bitter blow to the Brit’s title hopes a week after he retired in Zandvoort with an oil leak. But the Aussie was then told to give the place back to Norris, which he did so reluctantly. It is worth remembering that McLaren also stepped in last season, with Norris asked to let Piastri through to win the Hungarian Grand Prix following the pit stops. When Norris was asked about the boos, he said: “I don’t know why, to be honest. “And people can do what they want, 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 cheered for me. But I don’t know – who knows. Like I said, I just concentrate on doing my thing. “It was the same in Monza and a few other places. So yeah, I don’t know why, I just can’t stop laughing.” After the race in Mexico, Norris was asked if he would give back the extra three world championship points he earned as a result of the position swap in Monza to help stop the booing. He said: “If they want to think that they certainly have the right to, they can think whatever they want. “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 as two years ago in Budapest, when I could have won the race and not let Oscar back through and let him win the race he deserved to win. It was no difference to that, really. “And, to be honest, if you want to have the three points, they can. They have the right to think whatever they want. “But yeah, like Oscar deserved to win in Budapest, I deserved to be ahead in Monza. Simple as that.” Norris had an outside chance of fighting Max Verstappen for the title last season and fans were more than happy to cheer him on as the young buck taking on the four-time world champ. The championship is now in his hands this year with him leading the table by one point over Piastri and now some supporters have turned against him. He has had to come off social media at points this season and his girlfriend Margarida Corceiro has also been the target of online trolling. This hasn’t always been the case, with fans falling in love with Norris when he bravely opened up about his battle with mental health during the early stages of his career. Norris has always championed those dealing with mental health struggles, and has worked with McLaren’s mental health charity Mind. When he was first thrust on the scene, the Bristol-born driver was known for his cheeky chappie persona, which cemented him as a fan favourite. It is no secret that he has also become the heart-throb of the grid and recently featured in Vogue. He has certainly adopted a more steely exterior in recent years with him transforming from the plucky rookie to fighting for world titles. But he still has the Brits on his side, with them packing out his new ‘Landostand’ dedicated to him at the British Grand Prix, which sold out in just two hours in July. England captain Harry Kane is a big fan too, with the striker heaping his praise on Norris at the Spanish Grand Prix in June. If he wins the title, he will become the first British world champion in five years, but it looks as though he will have to block out more noise than any of the other contenders en route to the throne. This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.
