Norris explains F1 radio anger that makes him "look like an idiot"
McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris has explained the reasons behind his Dutch Grand Prix anger, which he says made him "look like an idiot".
As rain hit the Zandvoort race from the start, Norris begged his team to stop for intermediates. But McLaren was one of several squads, including Mercedes and Williams, to brave it out and wait for the short shower to pass.
As the circuit got wetter, Norris responded furiously to his race engineer's call to stay out, saying: "What the f***, are you stupid?"
Norris then overruled the call to stay out by pitting at the end of lap thee, by which time the damage was done and the Briton - who had started on the front row - had lost any podium chances.
Norris felt outbursts, such as he made in Zandvoort, made him "look like an idiot" but says he only realises afterwards that his radio messages don't always come across as intended.
"We just spoke about it a bit now," he said when asked by Autosport if he and the team had reviewed the exchanges.
"When you look at it after you always think 'I make myself look like an idiot' and I get that.
"But the people I speak to know that I would never mean something like that, of course.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60
Photo by: Erik Junius
"We made some mistakes with our calls and the strategy. A bit of it is just emotions at the time.
"I always sound like I'm crying or moaning on the radio, I don't know why. I hate it!
"I feel like I'm really relaxed and chilled in the car but then I'm always the opposite when I listen to myself after...
"There are always discussions but a couple of times the information was not to the level it should have been and then it gets a bit frustrating at times. It's stuff we reviewed and definitely won't happen again."
Norris explained he and the Woking team, which he has been driving for since his debut in 2019, know each other well enough not to take offence to heat-of-the-moment comments, even if he gets some flak on social media from outsiders.
"People always judge things from the outside and like to make comments, but the team knows how I work and how I say things," he added.
"As long as they know that and I know how they do things, how they speak to me and how we interpret things, then that's all that's needed from my side.
"From what people see on the outside...I care but in a way I don't care, because I'm doing my job and I just do that the best I can."
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