Lando Norris stood up for a female Formula 1 journalist after another reporter interrupted their interview with a bizarre accusation.
Drivers always pay a visit to the TV media pen on a Thursday ahead of a race weekend. And it was no different for Norris on media day at the Austrian Grand Prix.
On this occasion, though, one of his interviews took a strange turn when it was interrupted by another journalist. It happened while he was speaking with experienced reporter Mariana Becker, who was asking questions for a Brazilian TV station.
McLaren have upgraded Norris' car this weekend so questions on that subject were always likely. And the Brit was impressed by one that Becker asked about how he is going to be able to test the changes to his car on a Sprint weekend such as this.
"Yeah, um, good question," he replied, before smiling and adding: "You ask the best questions here, well done." But the shock was visible on his face as another reporter then interjected, despite the interview being on camera.
"You are one hell of a liar," said the unknown male reporter, who was off camera at the time. Becker's reply was: "Wow, this is not true," while Norris retorted: "I'm not."
He then gave the other reporter a withering look before brutally adding: "Who are you?" He then turned back to Becker and said: "No, I'm telling the truth, before going on to answer her original question.
A clip of the extraordinary exchanged was shared on social media, where F1 fans reacted in unison. "Lando defended Mariana Becker from another rude reporter in the media pen today... no words," wrote the original poster.
And those in the comments agreed. One wrote: "What's his problem? What exactly does he get from trying to drag down a fellow journalist? There might be something else happening there with them in the pen but, c'mon dude, this isn't it."
Another said: "I think whoever made that comment about Lando was rude and should apologize to him." And a third added: "Maybe it was meant to be funny, but the delivery was poor."
