MEXICO CITY :Lando Norris shrugged off boos from the Mexican crowd on Sunday after the Briton seized back the Formula One championship lead from teammate Oscar Piastri with a dominant win from pole position.
The boos, the reason for which was unclear, could be heard as Norris spoke after the race and as he took the top step of the podium at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
“People can do what they want, honestly. They have the right to do it if they want to do it. So I think that’s sport sometimes,” he told reporters.
“I don’t know why I can’t stop laughing when I get booed. I think it makes it more entertaining for me. So, yeah, they can keep doing it if they want.
“Of course, you don’t want it. I prefer if people cheer for me. But I don’t know. I just concentrate on doing my things. It was the same in Monza and a few other places.”
A Mexican reporter suggested to Norris in a later press conference that some fans felt he was being gifted the championship at the expense of his Australian teammate.
He said a recent poll for his publication posed the question, “What should Lando do?”, with the most popular answer being “return the three points”.
The reference was to this year’s Italian Grand Prix where Norris was leading the race but lost out to Piastri on a slow second pit stop, with the team then ordering the drivers to reverse positions to finish second and third.
The situation had been the opposite in Hungary last year, where Norris let Piastri past to win on team orders.
Other reports indicated local fans were still upset by comments Norris made about home hero Sergio Perez last year when the Mexican was being trounced by teammate Max Verstappen, third on Sunday, at Red Bull.
Whatever the reason, Norris said they had a right to think what they wanted.
“As a team, of course, we try and do things fairly,” he said.
“But, yeah. Like Oscar deserved the win last year in Budapest, I deserved to be ahead at Monza. Simple as that.”