It has been one of the more curious sub-plots to emerge as the Formula One season races to its finale. Amid a three-way battle for the title, Lando Norris was the one (finally, some may say) who shut out the white noise and stormed to two maximum-point-scoring weekends in Mexico and Brazil. Only, with eyebrows arched upwards across the paddock, the happy-as-Larry Briton was not a beloved figure on the podium.
Norris – who has for many years been one of the sport’s most popular drivers – was booed by fans in the grandstands in Mexico City and Sao Paulo. In both instances, the cacophony of noise was peculiar, in as much as there was no obvious reason for the reception. No controversial moves, no patriotic sentiment, no long-held distaste.
