Dinners, parties, dating — it’s all part of an F1 driver’s lavish lifestyle off the track, and it’s entirely justifiable given the immense effort they put into driving the fastest racing cars in the world. Naturally, they also earn significant salaries from their teams, allowing them to indulge in wild nights after a Grand Prix weekend. At times, they also use their wealth to indulge in kind gestures.
Lando Norris is a perfect example of how these dynamos live life to the fullest, not hesitating to splash out the big bucks. His peer George Russell once highlighted Norris’ generosity, revealing how the McLaren driver paid for his friend’s birthday party.
“We went out for dinner, and Lando was at the same restaurant. Next thing you know, they’re having a few drinks. I left early, and Lando ended up paying for all my friends. So, I still owe him a little bit of money,” Russell recalled in an interview last year.
A well-off F1 driver like Norris wouldn’t typically want such moments of kindness to be known, especially when they highlight his wealth. So, when the Bristol-born driver found out that Russell had revealed his generous gesture, he responded with a touch of awkwardness.
Norris was participating in a ‘Most Likely To’ activity with his teammate Oscar Piastri when the host asked them, “Which driver is most likely to pay on a first date?”
That’s when the host mentioned Norris paying the bill for the Mercedes driver’s friends, prompting the #4 driver to react, “Why do they tell you this? What is wrong with people?”
Unaware of how the host had found out, it was understandable that Norris felt a bit uneasy and wondered what else about his personal lifestyle might have slipped into the public eye.
Nevertheless, he returned to the activity, discussing which driver would be most hesitant to pay the bill on a first date and who would be the most generous. While Norris’ image as a generous person was established throughout the conversation, Piastri surprisingly picked him as the least likely to pay, alongside his friend Carlos Sainz.
Norris was astounded to hear that his teammate had labeled him that way. However, Piastri had solid reasoning, naming Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton as the most generous, given that they are the highest-paid drivers on the grid.
To this, Norris chuckled and said, “That is fair.”
Interestingly, Norris had also picked Piastri as the least likely to pay on a first date, once again alongside Sainz. As a side note, the Spaniard would probably want to ask his former teammate why he felt that way.
