“I Don’t Think People Realize How Much It Stings”: Lando Norris on the Pain F1 Drivers Endure From Champagne Spray

The 2025 F1 season is right around the corner with the season-opening Australian GP set to run next week. Naturally, this is the last opportunity for the drivers to relax with an excruciating 24-race calendar ahead of them.

Capitalizing on this, Buzzfeed UK got the drivers to react to some F1 memes for their YouTube channel. One of these was around the champagne-spraying tradition on the podium after every race.

Now, the meme basically shows how athletes from other sporting leagues like the NBA wear ski goggles for the safety of their eyes while celebrating with champagne. Why so? The reason is to avoid getting hit with the corks and also avoiding the sparkling bubbly getting into one’s eyes.

F1 drivers, however, do not take such protective measures on the podium. That is why, when McLaren driver, Lando Norris was shown the customary podium celebration with champagne, he expressed that they do feel some discomfort as the champagne gets sprayed on their faces.

“When you’re there you always think ‘I wish I could have worn some goggles’. Because it stings a lot. I don’t think people realize how much it stings. Like, it hurts,” revealed the #4 driver.

AND HIS PODIUM CELEBRATION IS BACK pic.twitter.com/M9kPO8jdyb

— ray (@ln4norris) August 25, 2024

Champagne bottles used for the podium celebrations are specialized. In fact, they are designed to spray for a distance of up to 20 meters for at least 15 seconds. Naturally, when sprayed into the face of a driver up close, the force is only amplified.

The idea of using goggles, though, has been used in the paddock before to avoid this irritation in the eyes. During Red Bull’s dominance in the early 2010s, Sebastian Vettel was notorious for aiming some bubbly at the eyes of his designer, Adrian Newey.

So, the Briton would prepare himself before stepping onto the podium. “I got champagne sprayed in my eyes, which hurt. In later years I took to wearing goggles. You may laugh, but that champagne stings, and Seb used to love getting it in my eyes,” he revealed in his book: How to Build a Car.

Norris, however, would never employ this tactic. “I don’t know, I feel I would look a bit stupid if I wore googles,” he explained.

Norris reveals the secret behind his trademark podium celebration

The four-time Grand Prix might share a love-hate relationship with champagne on the F1 podium. That said, he has embraced the tradition and added his own spin on the thing to carve out a trademark celebration.

Whenever on the podium, the #4 driver can be seen ‘popping’ the bottle by slamming it on the ground. The early iterations of this sometimes turned to disaster — most infamously when he unintentionally broke Max Verstappen’s 2023 Hungarian GP winner’s trophy.

The hosts asked Norris to explain the origins of this celebration. As it turns out, it wasn’t the Briton’s to begin with!

“I just copied that from someone, to be honest. Everyone thinks it’s my thing, but it’s not,” he revealed.

With McLaren’s MCL39 touted as a title-winning car once again, Norris will have many opportunities throughout this season to practice and perfect this particular craft.