Lando Norris apologises for ‘stupid’ comments about F1 rivals

Last Updated: 27/10/20 11:25am

Lando Norris has issued an apology over recent comments in interviews he admits were “stupid and careless” and that did not show “the respect I should have to certain people”.

Although the McLaren driver did not refer to which specific comments he was referring, they are likely to have been ones about Lance Stroll and Lewis Hamilton made after Sunday’s Portuguese GP.

Norris was heavily critical of Stroll about the lap-17 collision between the two drivers, which earned his Racing Point rival a five-second time penalty from stewards. He claimed that Stroll “doesn’t learn from anything he does”.

In another interview, Norris also seemed to play down Hamilton’s achievement of winning a record 92 races by saying that while he was happy for his countryman “he’s in a car which should win every race, basically. He has to beat one or two other drivers, that’s it”.

But in an apology issued on Twitter on Tuesday, Norris wrote: “I’ve been stupid and careless with some things I’ve said lately in media and interviews, and haven’t shown the respect I should have to certain people.

“I’m not that kind of person, so know I should apologise to them but also everyone reading/listening. Sorry.”

Lanco Stroll went wheel-to-wheel with Lando Norris over seventh place, the two made contact during the Portuguese GP.

Norris finished outside the points at Portimao after being forced to pit for repairs after the Turn-One clash with Stroll amid a fight for seventh place, having run as high as four in the early stages after both McLarens made storming starts.

The 20-year-old, who was forced out of the previous race when running well at the Nurburgring due to power unit problems, is on a run of three grands prix without points and lost ground in the multi-driver fight for fourth in the championship.