Jacques Villeneuve explains why F1 fans booing Lando Norris was so ’embarrassing’

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Lando Norris is a deserving world champion after beating Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri in 2025, but he was not popular amongst all Formula 1 fans.

The Brit pulled off a great comeback, having been 34 points behind Piastri after his mechanical retirement at Zandvoort. Adopting a more relaxed approach, similar to that of his teammate, Norris found his form in the final nine races.

He won two races and grabbed six podiums in that time, with his P3 in Abu Dhabi giving him the title by just two points over Verstappen. Norris is the first McLaren world champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008.

What was your favourite moment from Lando Norris’ 2025 F1 title-winning season?

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Former Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko admitted he was wrong about Norris after ‘clearly outshining’ Piastri. He proved to the Austrian that he is not ‘mentally weak’ as he turned his fortunes around.

At just 26 years old, Damon Hill thinks the best is yet to come from Norris. But his success in 2025 was met with a hostile reception at certain races.

Jacques Villeneuve slams Lando Norris boos as ’embarrassing’ and tells fans to accept Oscar Piastri going backwards

The Brit was booed by the crowd at many races towards the end of 2025, most notably at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Ted Kravitz theorised that McLaren’s treatment of Piastri was the reason for Norris’ poor reception.

McLaren caused controversy in Monza with team orders, telling Piastri to make way for Norris after a slow pit stop for the Brit. Jacques Villeneuve was not happy with fans booing the latter, labelling it ’embarrassing’ and that fans were not seeing the bigger picture.

He said via the High Performance Podcast: “That’s a little bit ridiculous. When there was some booing at some races, that was embarrassing.

You should never boo a driver that’s clean, doesn’t do anything dirty on track, is respectful, and on top of it, is super fast. Well, what’s wrong with people? That was embarrassing.

“Now, had it been that Piastri was a second a lap faster than him and somehow Lando was winning because a lot of things were happening, his car breaking down every time, then you could start thinking: ‘OK, that’s really not cool, that’s not fair’.

“But that wasn’t the case. And in the second half, Norris has been faster, right at the beginning as well. Last year as well. So there’s this whole middle of the season where Piastri was driving a lot better than Norris and was getting the points. Norris had an engine blowing up, not Piastri.

“And so those fans, they don’t look at that either. So, you have to look at the whole picture of the whole season. And suddenly if your favourite is starting to go backwards, you just got to bite the bullet and accept it.”

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

How did Lando Norris react to being booed during the 2025 season?

As aforementioned, McLaren’s controversial team orders were likely the reason why Norris received such a poor reception from fans. Mexico City garnered the most attention, as boos rang around the stadium section after the race.

Martin Brundle felt the boos were ‘off-putting’, having seen it several times in his career with the likes of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.

But Norris vowed not to let the boos affect him. They certainly did not have an impact on him as he went on to win the next race in Sao Paulo, keeping up his title charge.

It demonstrated his mental strength in the second half of the season, having taken a beating from Piastri earlier in the year. Norris will be looking to keep the momentum going as the new regulations come into effect in 2026.