McLaren star Lando Norris has flipped the bird at an Aussie fan as he claimed third at the Australian Grand Prix.
Red Bull and Mercedes’ pain was McLaren and Ferrari’s gain as Norris and his Aussie teammate Oscar Piastri finished third and fourth respectively behind Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc’s 1-2.
It’s the first time since Bahrain in 2022 Ferrari have claimed a 1-2, and just the seventh time since 2010 the Prancing Horse has taken out the top two steps on the podium.
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Both teams were the beneficiaries of the retirement of championship leader Max Verstappen in Red Bull’s first mechanical retirement since 2022.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was also forced out of the race when he suffered a power failure early in the race, while his teammate George Russell crashed late in the race after being brake tested by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Ferrari are now just four points off Red Bull’s tally in the constructor standings, while McLaren are third, another 38 points behind.
But Norris’ 14th podium in Formula One has seen the Brit claim an unwanted record as he continues to await his maiden victory in the sport.
The 24-year-old moved past former Sauber, Williams and Renault driver Nick Heidfeld, who had 13 podiums between 2000 and 2011.
And the unwanted record is clearly something on Norris’ mind as he took aim at an Aussie fan who reminded him he’d yet to claim the top step of the podium.
A TikTok video showed Norris giving a fan a one-fingered salute after he yelled out: “When are you going to win a race, Lando?”
You can watch the exchange in the video player above.
A Norris fan said it best, commenting: “He has more than podiums than many on the grid older than him – OK he hasn’t got his first win but it’s coming and his answer was brilliant.”
But Norris himself was reasonably happy with the result but believed he could have done even better.
“I think our pace has been good all weekend. We put things together very nicely,” Norris said.
“I didn’t expect probably us to be competing against the Ferraris today. I think our pace was not as good as Carlos, but probably better than Charles.
“So I think if I was being honest we maybe missed out a little bit on an opportunity to be P2 today.
“I think if you look back to here last year we were not terrible considering the car that we had. We’ve now come back with a good car and we’ve shown what we can do but I think this was always going to be a good weekend for us.”
Norris has arguably been the unluckiest driver on the grid when it comes to claiming his first win.
Norris finished second behind Daniel Ricciardo at Monza in 2021 when the Aussie claimed his only podium for the papaya outfit.
He also missed out on a win of his own at the Russian Grand Prix when he chose to stay out on dry tyres when it started raining with less than 10 laps remaining.
Norris had been in a battle with Lewis Hamilton, who switched tyres immediately, while the young Brit stayed out, ultimately losing grip and dropping from first to seventh.
After than race, he said via Instagram: “It hurts, so badly. Pain for me and pain for the team. We lost this together.”
But you could also argue that Norris was handed his shot at pushing higher on the podium after his teammate Oscar Piastri was told to swap positions with Norris after 29 laps.
Norris’ strategy saw him pit five laps later than Piastri and had fresher tyres.
Pit expert Ted Kravitz summed up how the news was received by the huge crowd.
“I have to tell you Crofty that went down like a cold flat white with the crowd, that position swap,” he said.
“I think they understand it’s for the good of the McLaren team … knowing Lando is probably better placed with younger tyres.
“But we’ll see how much damage Lando has already done to his tyres in Piastri’s dirty air to see whether he can close on Leclerc or the Ferrari has too much pace.”
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