Lando Norris has criticised Formula 1’s pre-race festivities on the grid prior to the start of the Miami Grand Prix.
As part of the entertainment build-up to the race, all 20 drivers were individually introduced by rapper LL Cool J.
In addition, an orchestra was present on the grid conducted by musician will.i.am.
The procedure was met with criticism by fans and drivers alike with George Russell highlighting that it was distracting on the build-up to the race.
However, his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton praised the celebration and voiced support for F1 attempting to trial different methods.
“I think it’s cool that the sport is continuously growing and evolving and they’re not just doing the same thing they’ve done in the past,” he said.
“They’re trying new things, they’re trying to improve the show always, and I’m in full support of it.’
But Norris has taken issue with F1 adding more duties ahead of the race, insisting that the drivers want to focus on their preparation.
“We do a lot of things, probably the only sport where we’re so close to the fans,” the McLaren driver commented. “We do so much publicity for the fans.
“As drivers, we all just want to sit down and focus on what we want to focus on, not do so much TV and everything.
“But it’s a business at the end of the day, so it’s what we’ve got to do. But adding more and more stuff like this, no driver likes it.
“We’ve said that you can’t just keep putting things in and making us do more and more. There’s not one other sport that does this.
“We do so much, there’s a limit to how much we can do. We’re here to focus on doing the job of what we’re doing and not be in front of a camera the whole day.”
Norris endured a difficult race on Sunday, as he was hit by AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries at the first corner.
McLaren had underwhelming pace throughout the grand prix, with Norris taking the chequered flag in 17th.
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