Lando Norris once inadvertently disrespected Lewis Hamilton in one of his interviews, and the McLaren driver’s remarks blew out of proportion. Norris has discussed about the same in his book, Lando Norris: A Biography, to explain how his misguided anger resulted in immense controversy.
It was back at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix when Norris was furious following his lap eighteen collision with Lance Stroll. Following the conclusion of his race, an interviewer asked the young Briton to comment upon Hamilton’s record 92nd Grand Prix win.
Since Norris had a lot going on in his mind back then, he seemingly undermined Hamilton’s achievement in his post-race interview. “I’m just happy for him, nothing more. It doesn’t mean anything to me, really. He’s (Hamilton)’s in a car which should win every race, basically,” explained Norris.
It was a significant victory for Hamilton as he broke Michael Schumacher’s record for the most wins in F1. The legendary German driver had won 91 races during his illustrious career. And Hamilton had gone past it at the 2020 Portuguese GP. Even though Hamilton registered such an impressive record, few often praised him for the same.
Many often underplayed the Mercedes driver’s achievements by simply citing that he accomplished such records because of having the fastest car on the grid. Moreover, since Norris with his outburst in his post-race interview also seemingly attested to this view, his remarks unsurprisingly triggered immense controversy.
Lando Norris apologized to Lewis Hamilton for his remarks
Soon after Lando Norris realized how his remarks about Lewis Hamilton’s remarkable achievement had spread like wildfire, the McLaren driver took to social media and apologized. Norris explained how he had simply been “stupid and careless” with some of the things he said to the media.
Norris then added in his post that he regrets not showing the respect he should have for certain people. As a result, Norris decided to personally apologize to Hamilton and make it clear that he never had any intention of disrespecting the Mercedes driver.
“I never meant to say something like that in a bad way or put any bad light on him at all. I respect everything he’s done to achieve what he’s done,” explained Norris in one of his interviews with the media after he received immense criticism for his earlier choice of words. While Norris apologized, Hamilton chose to stay mum.
