The reason behind the boos that race winner Lando Norris received at Formula 1‘s Mexico City Grand Prix has been pinned on a previous incident in the 2025 season.
The crowd made their displeasure towards Norris visible during the weekend in Mexico, the most notable occasion coming when he was being interviewed post-race.
There was puzzlement in the paddock about the cause until a local reporter indicated that it was linked to McLaren’s contentious driver swap in the Italian Grand Prix.
At Monza, McLaren ordered Oscar Piastri to cede second place to Norris when a slow pitstop had dropped him behind his team-mate, a decision that divided opinion.
That triggered Mexican magazine Fast Mag to run a poll asking whether Norris was being gifted the title, that six-point swing having helped him to lead the standings.
However, Norris, who now has a one-point advantage, denied the heckles that greeted his 10th, and perhaps most significant, career win to date “soured” the success.
“I like sour sweets,” he quipped to media including Motorsport Week. “I don’t know why, to be honest.
“People can do what they want, honestly. They have the right to do it if they want to do it.
“So I think that’s sport sometimes. I don’t know why I can’t stop laughing when I get booed. I think it makes it more entertaining for me.
“So, yeah, they can keep doing it if they want. Of course, you don’t want it. I prefer if people cheer for me. But I don’t know. Who knows?
“Like I said, I just concentrate on doing my things. It was the same in, what, Monza and a few other places.
“So, yeah. I don’t know why. I just can’t stop laughing. So, if they want to continue they can.”
Norris disregards crowd complaints over Monza swap
Norris repeated that McLaren did the right thing at Monza, given that it respected the precedent that was set when he relinquished a win to Piastri in Hungary in 2024.
“If they want to think that, then they certainly have the right to – they can think whatever they want,” he continued.
“I guess from us as a team, of course, we try and do things fairly. That was the comments we made back then.
“The same with, you know, two years ago in Budapest when I could have won the race and had to let Oscar back through and let him win a race he deserved to win.
“It was no different to that really. It was an incorrect decision that we made as a team to box him first – and, or me first here.
“And, yeah, to be honest, if you want to have the three points, they can. But they have the right to think whatever they want.
“But, yeah, like Oscar deserved the win last year in Budapest, I deserve to be ahead at Monza. Simple as that.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris seizes F1 title lead with dominant Mexico GP victory
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