Lando Norris has taken a ‘tip’ from Christian Horner in Mexico City Grand Prix interviews

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Lando Norris has once again been dominating the Formula 1 headlines ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix. There have been two major topics on the agenda.

The first is the fallout from his battle with Max Verstappen at the last race in Austin. He received a highly controversial five-second penalty after overtaking his title rival off the track.

McLaren lodged a right of review on Thursday, a move Damon Hill said would have ‘interesting’ repercussions. Verstappen is ‘gaming’ the rules in the eyes of Andrea Stella.

The second, more general, story is the fight for the world championship. While McLaren remain 40 points clear in the constructors’ despite their relatively disappointing weekend in Texas, Norris fell 57 adrift of Verstappen.

The Red Bull driver previously expressed doubt over his title defence but will now be growing in confidence. Norris may soon be starting to rue the significant number of points he and McLaren have left on the table in 2024.

The Englishman has been typically honest in assessing his limitations. Norris says Verstappen is better at dealing with pressure on the back of his breathless scrap with Lewis Hamilton in 2021.

Lando Norris started ‘asking his own questions’ at Mexican Grand Prix like Christian Horner

Speaking on Autosport’s YouTube channel, journalist Stuart Codling noticed a change in Norris’ media strategy before the race in Mexico. He apparently started imitating Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

He started responding to his own questions, rather than directly answering the journalists, as a means of controlling the narrative. He rejected suggestions that he should have returned the position to Verstappen immediately.

Norris didn’t think he’d done anything wrong, though McLaren could have intervened in this regard. He also revealed that he wasn’t necessarily in a position to sustain his attack after punishing his tyres to catch the Red Bull.

“Lando started doing that thing where he started asking his own questions and then answering it, which is a tip he must have learned from Christian Horner who does that all the time,” Codling said. “Lando said that he didn’t think he did anything wrong, so there was the question of should he have given the position back and tried to overtake again.

“Actually, the tyre situation meant that wasn’t really on. Also, he thought he’d done nothing wrong.”

Max Verstappen ‘laughed’ at one ‘amazing’ question about Lando Norris controversy

Verstappen and Norris also clashed at the start of the race, with both drivers running off the track after the former spotted a gap on the inside. It highlighted the difference in their approaches.

David Coulthard has urged Norris to cover the inside amid his persistent struggles when starting from first. He’s only converted two of his six poles this season.

Reviewing the incident later in the race, Verstappen was defiant. His tactics have once again come under scrutiny from his fellow drivers and the F1 media.

Verstappen ‘laughed’ at an interviewer who asked whether he’d tried to make the corner at turn 12. He says it’s ‘amazing’ that people can claim to ‘read his mind’.