Lando Norris celebrates his debut Formula 1 title in Abu Dhabi. The Briton defied clear instructions from McLaren. That’s what lies behind it.
Formula 1 champion Lando Norris caused a moment of shock for his race engineer Will Joseph. And that immediately after the World Cup triumph in Abu Dhabi.
As Norris brought his MCL39 across the start-finish straight, the world champion did a few donuts in front of the fans like a champion. This is also known from the previous winners Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. The friends dance of the cars.
In an interview, the newly crowned world champion admitted that he had clear orders not to eat donuts.
“Will told me not to do donuts. And I thought, ‘God, can I do donuts or not? I have to do it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do donuts. I have to do it,'” Norris explained in an interview with “F1” reporter Lawrence Barretto.
This immediately made the 26-year-old feel guilty. “I felt pretty bad because he told me not to do it. And I thought to myself, it’s not often that I don’t listen to Will. I felt bad that I did it.”
Why shouldn’t Norris spin donuts?
The command post did not explain the exact reason for the ban. It probably happened out of fear of another FIA penalty. Donuts are not strictly forbidden after a race and without endangering others.
But: After a race, the cars are examined closely. The team may have wanted to prevent the races from falling below the minimum weight due to the donuts.
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It was only in Las Vegas that the racing team was subsequently punished by the FIA and both drivers were disqualified. The reason for this was that the underbody of the car was too worn.
But this time everything worked out, the McLaren cars didn’t fail the test – McLaren and Norris were able to continue celebrating.