Angry Formula 1 fans have expressed their disappointment in Lando Norris after the Miami Grand Prix winner revealed that he has 'a lot of respect' for Donald Trump.
British star Norris won his first ever F1 Grand Prix on Sunday thanks to a magnificent drive in his McLaren, beating three-time world champion Max Verstappen by more than seven seconds in the baking Florida heat. Former US president Trump was in attendance and cheered Norris on after being given a controversial tour of the McLaren garage by team CEO Zak Brown, later claiming that he was the 24-year-old's new 'lucky charm'.
Trump, 77, is currently on trial in New York after being charged with 34 counts of fraud related to hush-money which was paid to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels prior to his 2016 election win. The reality TV star-turned-president has pleaded not guilty, arguing that the allegations aren't criminal.
Norris, though, was 'honoured' to be congratulated by Trump, who served as US commander-in-chief from 2016 to 2020 before losing the next election to Democrat opponent Joe Biden - who he's set to battle once again this November in a bid to win a second presidential term. After being asked how he felt about Trump's presence at McLaren, Norris replied: "I didn't see him in the garage to be honest, I was busy prepping for the race.
"But he saw me after and he came up to congratulate me, so I guess an honour, because whenever you have someone like this, it has to be an honour for you – for them to come up to you, to take time out of their life to pay their respect for what you've done.
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"He said he was my lucky charm because it was my win, so I don't know if he's going to come to more races now. But yeah, there's a lot of special people, cool people that have been here this weekend.
"Donald is someone that you've got to have a lot of respect for, in many ways, and for anyone like that who acknowledges what you can go out and do, and acknowledges the work ethic that goes into things, you've got to be thankful for that, and I was. So, yeah. Cool moment, and that's all."
Norris' comments have landed him in hot water, with one fan on X/Twitter bemoaning: "Incredibly disappointing to read Lando referred to Donald Trump as someone one has 'got to have a lot of respect for'. That individual deserves absolutely no respect. Not even a smidgen."
A second added: "My respect for Lando after his comments about Donald Trump has disappeared." A third followed up by saying: "What a dark cloud over an otherwise brilliant weekend..."
Your turn! Should Lando Norris apologise for his comments? Let us know your stance in the comments section
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem posed with Lando Norris and Donald Trump (Steven Tee/LAT Images)Another took aim at team chief Brown, fuming: "Zak lost a lot of respect from me here! Has me questioning my support of McLaren and F1."
One fan defended Norris, though, asking: "What exactly is Lando meant to say in this situation!? He was just being respectful and polite, it's all just PR at the end of the day." Another argued: "Norris didn't really have much of a choice considering McLaren, a team I love, basically forced Trump on him. What a stain on an otherwise wonderful weekend."
After receiving backlash following Trump's visit to their garage, McLaren issued a statement which read: "McLaren is a non-political organisation however we recognise and respect the office of President of the United States. "So when the request was made to visit our garage on race day we accepted alongside the president of the FIA and the CEO's of Liberty Media and Formula 1.
"We were honoured that McLaren Racing was chosen as the representative of F1 which gave us the opportunity to showcase the world class engineering that we bring to motorsport."
Trump congratulated McLaren on social media platform Truth Social, posting: "It was a great honour to see my friends at McLaren win the big Miami Formula 1 race. It was the car I visited before the race, and Endorsed - that's what we need for our Country - WINNING!"
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