Lando Norris did not have a great outing in Sakhir on Saturday, finishing sixth in the Bahrain GP qualifying. Afterward, while facing questions from the media on his underwhelming result, he did something that raised quite a few eyebrows.
The McLaren driver commented on a social media post by Portuguese model Magui Corceiro right when the media interaction was going on. Rumored to be his girlfriend since 2022, Corceiro has been at several of Norris’s races. But the two have yet to confirm their relationship.
Norris has, particularly, been measured about everything around Corceiro. The British driver has remained mum, even though he has been spotted with the model at multiple events and on car rides. His latest social media activity has perhaps confirmed what is the worst-kept secret in F1.
However, the point here was not Norris’ confirmation of the relation but the time he chose to comment on Corceiro’s post. The British driver follows Corceiro on Instagram and has liked her posts in the past. However, this seems to be the first time he left a comment.
Since he couldn’t wait till the press interaction was over, fans went on hyperdrive deliberating on it. Needless to say, many were critical. Maybe it was the post that made him impatient.
Corceiro had posted a picture with her cat. “Olaa Baluu [saying hi to her cat],” commented Norris on the post.
A keen-eyed fan account on Instagram spotted the comment and shared, “Wow!!! Lando Norris left a comment for the first time on the post on the feed of model Magui Corceiro, the photos are of Magui with a white kitten!”
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Fans looked at the time the comment was made and figured out that he had done it during the post-qualifying interviews. And as soon as the picture and Norris’ comment on it went viral, they reacted, rather critically.
Some hinted at the unprofessionalism, asking the McLaren PR team to get involved. “PR team. Lando was literally live, we could see him,” wrote a fan under an Instagram post put up by @f1gossipofficial, a page dedicated to highlighting paddock gossip.
“Girl, he was in an interview when he supposedly commented, lol PRRRR team,” wrote another fan.
Norris perhaps needs more media training. His answers during the interview with the F1 media team on Saturday, after the Bahrain GP qualifying, gave that feeling.
His body language and inability to answer any of the questions articulately stunned many. His words, “I am just not quick enough,” don’t inspire much confidence. “I didn’t even go a tenth quicker. I’m just not quick enough,” Norris said.
“Honestly, no idea. No idea, just not quick enough. It’s just another day. [We will] look into things, see why I was struggling so much today and try again tomorrow,” he had added.
Norris needs to introspect on his approach toward the media and also maybe think of explaining his relationship with Corceiro. That should kill the intrigue around his personal life and probably make things simpler for him.
His reluctance to acknowledge or explain his relationship could be because he is not keen to become the center of attention for non-racing reasons. The media was relentless in covering his previous relationship with Luisinha Oliveira when he went public with it.
Why has Norris not confirmed his relationship with Corceiro?
When they were in a relationship, Norris and Oliveira were often seen walking into the paddock hand-in-hand, attending events together, and going out on dates.
The downside, however, was the lack of privacy. Norris had revealed once that it took a toll on their relationship.
He may simply want to avoid going through that again with his new rumored love interest. And the fact that they’ve been sharing headlines for nearly three years now, and there has been no rebuttal or refusal from either one of them, suggests that Norris and Corceiro are close. Recently, the duo were seen holding hands during a driving date in a $273,880 Lamborghini Urus.
Most convincingly, the five-time Grand Prix winner was caught planting a kiss on Corceiro’s cheek last season. It was captured on camera by the makers of Netflix’s critically acclaimed docuseries, Drive to Survive. The visuals were included in one of the episodes of its latest season, released just before the start of the 2025 season.
With all of this, one can’t blame the fans for being impatient about them not making the ‘relationship’ public.
