It has been one of the more curious sub-plots to emerge as the Formula One season races to its finale. Amid a three-way battle for the title, Lando Norris was the one (finally, some may say) who shut out the white noise and stormed to two maximum-point-scoring weekends in Mexico and Brazil. Only, with eyebrows arched upwards across the paddock, the happy-as-Larry Briton was not a beloved figure on the podium.
Norris – who has for many years been one of the sport’s most popular drivers – was booed by fans in the grandstands in Mexico City and Sao Paulo. In both instances, the cacophony of noise was peculiar, in as much as there was no obvious reason for the reception. No controversial moves, no patriotic sentiment, no long-held distaste.
The widely-coined view is that fans are voicing their displeasure at the supposed favouritism within McLaren for Norris over Oscar Piastri. Even that is heavily contrived. However, much to the enjoyment of Johnny Herbert, the oddballs on the terraces have only served to trigger Norris’s best form to date. This is Lando locked in.
“He doesn’t deserve that reception at all,” ex-F1 driver Herbert tells The Independent. “People who show their displeasure in that way are very, very stupid. If someone does something that’s really bad, then sure, I understand it. But with Lando it’s about this ‘favouritism’ thing with Oscar, which I just don’t get.
“People say Monza [in September, when Piastri ceded second place to Norris at the team’s request], but I remember Hungary last year [when Norris gave up a race win for Piastri] and nobody booed Oscar then.”
Norris’s lack of ruthlessness has previously been the prominent stick to beat him with, pigeon-holed as one of his biggest frailties, alongside a tendency for self-deprecation. His boyish charm, one which made him such a catch for the Drive to Survive generation of fans, could not seemingly work in tandem with that title-winning killer instinct.
Now, though, he appears to have cracked the code on track, heading into the Las Vegas Grand Prix this weekend with a 24-point advantage over Piastri.
“Is he [Lando] a nasty driver that has a particular way of doing things on the racetrack? No, he’s not,” Herbert says, in quotes in association with 24 Hour Grand Prix Jackpot. “Is he a gobby person saying silly things to the media? No. He’s a bubbly character, so it’s confusing in many respects.
“But what is good is that it doesn’t affect Lando. I think he’s absorbing all that negativity and twisting it around into positive performances. It’s all about how you deal with the pressure thrown on your shoulders and now, he’s dealing with it very well.
“Actually, it probably motivates him more, in many respects, for him to achieve the goal of winning the world championship.”
That train of thought, with Norris the pace-setter at the top of the standings, is not uncommon in the recent history of F1. For both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen in the past – in 2021, from Dutch and British fans respectively – boos have greeted their post-race interviews. Sebastian Vettel, as Herbert notes, was jeered by at least half a dozen different crowds in 2013, the year he won his fourth and final world championship.
The trend is obvious: fans of the sport do not like whoever is riding highest. Verstappen’s transformation in popularity this season, with phrases such as the “people’s champion” on social media compared to his stark unpopularity two years ago, speaks to that.
“It’s the new thing, isn’t it? If you go on social media, everybody seems to want to find fault in everybody,” Herbert says, when this trend is put to him. “Everyone thinks they have this freedom to be heard. In Brazil and Mexico, the fans wanted to show their disapproval. Disapproval of what? I’m not absolutely sure.
“Often, the best performing driver is something people don’t always like, which is very interesting. I always go the other way – I want to get wowed by sportsmen and I definitely get wowed by the best drivers.
“That’s why I get excited about watching Formula 1 – true skills are on show when someone goes out there and dominates the races.”
The new-and-improved “hardened” Norris, as Herbert puts it, is on the cusp of a maiden championship. While he cannot seal it this weekend under the bright lights of Sin City, another race victory means he would be in prime position to seal it in Qatar next week, with a race to spare. Quite the turnaround from six rounds ago, when he trailed Piastri by 34 points.
But Herbert, whose career highlight came with victory at the 1995 British Grand Prix, refuses to rule out another points swing, particularly Norris’s past struggles in Vegas.
“It’s been so good to see Lando turn up now, especially after all the talk about how mature Oscar had been,” he adds. “The bubbly Lando Norris is now a focused Lando Norris.
“Lando is on top of it all now. Is it over for Oscar? No, not at the moment. I’m sure Lando is very aware of this. We’ve seen many twists this season – I’m sure they’re not over yet.”
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