McLaren Boss Sweeps Lando Norris’ Public Outburst Under the Carpet With a 4-Word Threat

It’s not every day you get to hear Lando Norris blow his top on his radio. If you tune into Max Verstappen’s radio comms during a race weekend, more often than not, you’ll be guaranteed to hear at least one x-rated outburst. On the other hand, Norris’ airwaves are usually just him singing, “It’s Friday then, it’s Saturday, Sunday what?” or just him relaying information to his team. There are times he shows his frustration, but very rarely does he lose his cool and direct his anger at his team. So when it does happen, it becomes big news, precisely what happened during the Dutch GP.

The weekend was turning out to be a positive one for Norris and the Woking squad. That was until the five lights went off on Sunday, and everything turned south. Almost like a blast from the past, Norris was reliving his heartbreak from the 2021 Russian GP, which led to his public outburst.

McLaren has reinstilled hope in Lando Norris after his “stupid” comment

Less than two minutes after everyone got off the line on Sunday, the skies opened up, and teams had to decide whether or not to transition to wet-weather tires. After starting second, Norris already lost a place on Lap 1, but McLaren’s decision to keep him out to wait out the rain saw him drop down the order. Visibly struggling, Norris said to his engineer, “Box, mate. We’re too slow.” His engineer replied, “We are faster than Inters cars,” and Norris practically shouted, “What the… Are you f**king stupid, mate?”

McLaren’s decision to keep him out lost them the chance of a podium. While the Woking outfit would’ve wanted to continue the good run of form, it ended the first half in. Its transitioning strategy proved the villain yet again. Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Norris said, “We just lost everything in the beginning with the decision to stay out on the slicks when it was too wet. We just lost a lot more than we ever should have done.” McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella was just as disappointed in the result as Norris was, which led him to shoot warning shots at McLaren’s rivals.

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After the race, Stella said, “We don’t give up.” McLaren’s turnaround this season is a testament to that statement. He added, “The good news is that the car was, again, quite competitive. So we will review where we could have improved and go again in Italy.” As F1 returns to Monza this weekend, McLaren would hope to recreate its 2021 result. Looking back at the race, though, Norris wasn’t too disappointed with the result.

Lando Norris finds the silver lining in McLaren’s Dutch GP

After starting second and being one of the strong contenders for a podium, P7 wouldn’t have been much of a consolation for the young Brit. He knew where it all went wrong for McLaren—not just for him, but also for his teammate Oscar Piastri. After starting P8, the Aussie finished P9. After crossing the finish line, Norris radioed in, and instead of losing his cool as he did at the start of the race, he focused on the positives.

He said, “Not our best executed race, but points on the board for both of us, so well done but, y’know! Still, P2 in quali is good, but we want to make this perfect.” Despite McLaren’s errors recently, Norris also believes he’s where he’s meant to be, and there’s no other team he’d rather be with. While discussing McLaren’s turnaround and his contract with the team until 2025, the 23-year-old said, “The more we achieve things as we have over the past weeks, the more I’m confident with the decision I made to stay until 2025.”

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Can McLaren and Lando Norris improve on their Dutch GP result at the Italian GP this weekend?