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“I’ve Had Worse”: Oscar Piastri Defends Lando Norris Against an ‘Insult’ Given by Other F1 Drivers

Anirban Aly Mandal
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Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren Formula 1 Team and Oscar Piastri of Australia and McLaren Formula 1 Team looks on during the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park

The 2025 Miami GP weekend saw the F1 drivers sit down with ESPN to answer some of the most bizarre quizzes and hypothetical scenarios. One such question posed to drivers like Oliver Bearman, Yuki Tsunoda, and Oscar Piastri was who would win in a fight between a single gorilla and 100 people.

While that was a trendy social media query, the latest round of questions saw the drivers give their opinion on who amongst them would receive the worst Uber driver rating. One name that popped up constantly was that of McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Both, Tsunoda and George Russell elected the five-time Grand Prix winner to be the worst-rated driver on the app simply because of his personality. Russell said, “He doesn’t really care, does he? So, he’ll be rocking up a bit scruffy, and then clumping the kerb.”

Having said that, Norris’ teammate, Piastri came to his defense. When told that the #4 driver had been designated to be the worst Uber driver on the grid, the Aussie had Norris’ back with his own experience of being in the passenger’s seat.

“He’s not the most terrifying racing driver I’ve been in a car with. Was it relaxing? Questionable. But I’ve had worse,” he explained. In fact, he chose Red Bull’s latest recruit, Tsunoda, to take away this unwanted accolade.

Other drivers were a bit more forthcoming about their honest answers and did not shift the goalpost Norris’ way. F1’s youngest-ever pole-sitter, Kimi Antonelli picked himself to shoulder the burden on behalf of the grid.

“I think I would be quite erratic, you know. Quick [but] it wouldn’t be really pleasant,” he said.

Most of the drivers conceded that neither of them would rank pretty high. Concurring with Antonelli, Bearman explained that given their affinity with speed, their customers would not be too comfortable—hence, the low rating—but would reach the destination before time.

But it would appear that amongst the current grid, Norris was the most picked driver to be a nightmare for his Uber customers. Why is that the case, though?

While the British driver’s skills behind the wheel aren’t under question, it could probably be due to his cranky personality. In the past year or so, Norris has often displayed unwarranted whiny demeanor. Even though many of his peers may act like that in the cockpit, Norris’ feathers seem to be easily ruffled, out of the car as well.

Nevertheless, given that it was a fantasy quiz by ESPN, the McLaren man wouldn’t mind these results.

Post Edited By:Aishwary Gaonkar

About the author

Anirban Aly Mandal

Anirban Aly Mandal

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Anirban Aly Mandal is an F1 writer at The SportsRush, with over 1000 articles under his belt, Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 on his computer. With over half a decade's worth of time spent religiously following the sport, he’s dived deep into the world of motorsports. However, Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports and the law. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to Formula 1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature and music.

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