F1 fans slam McLaren’s ‘pathetic’ mentality after they shared controversial Lando Norris stat

Follow us on Google Discover

Lando Norris wasn’t satisfied with his performance at the US Grand Prix. He may have taken pole position and bagged a Sprint podium, but he still lost ground to Max Verstappen.

Norris called his qualifying lap ‘unbelievable’, even if he was perhaps reliant on George Russell’s crash and the resulting double-yellows to secure pole. Verstappen was the strong favourite heading into Q3 but his title rival pulled out a world-class effort on his first run.

However, despite a clean launch, he fell to fourth at the first corner after leaving a gap for Verstappen on the inside. Martin Brundle felt Norris didn’t show enough aggression before the Red Bull driver edged him out wide.

He rallied in the second stint and tried to re-pass the Dutchman, but ended up with a five-second penalty after overtaking him outside the bounds of the race track. Team principal Andrea Stella called the stewards’ decision ‘inappropriate’.

Having finished third in the Sprint, Norris picked up a total of 18 points at the Circuit of the Americas. But Sprint victor Verstappen, who ultimately held onto third on Sunday, accumulated 23 to extend his overall advantage to 57.

McLaren told they’re ’embarrassing’ after naming Lando Norris as top points scorer

McLaren announced what they saw as a major milestone on their social media channels on Monday morning. With 930 career points, Norris, who has started all 123 of his races with the team, became their highest-scoring driver ever.

This, however, is controversial for multiple reasons. There are more races in F1 than ever before (24 not including Sprints), but more importantly, the points system has changed.

The current structure, which awards 25 points for a win, has only been in place since 2010. Between the championship’s inception in 1950 and 2009, there were only eight to 10 points on offer for a victory.

That’s why F1 fan @JoLeKo011 called it a ‘terrible post’. @AledDavies88 thought it was ’embarrassing’, while @jess_jessf1 criticised them for ‘babying’ Norris.

@tracklimits_pod said they hated ‘everything’ about the disputed stat. @the_zb_ accused the team of becoming ‘insufferable’ and @TheRumourMill2 lamented their ‘pathetic’ and ‘small time’ mentality.

Why Lando Norris apologised to McLaren fans after US Grand Prix

Norris overtook Lewis Hamilton (913) for first place on that particular leaderboard. But Hamilton spent his first three seasons, including his championship year in 2008, racing under the old points system.

Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna won five world championships combined with the team but only rank fourth and fifth. Thus one can see how the metric is flawed.

Even Norris admits he’s not as good as Verstappen or Hamilton, two greats of the modern age. He clearly has the potential to win a title but the Austin weekend highlighted where he still needs to improve.

Norris apologised to McLaren fans after the race, even if he was frustrated with his penalty. He felt second place was possible if he’d driven at a higher level.