Lando Norris left with head in his hands as F1 rival tells him he’s getting instant fine for press conference blunder

LANDO NORRIS was left with his head in his hands as a Formula One rival told him he would be getting a fine for a press conference blunder.

The McLaren driver finished second in the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix weekend after slowing down to hand team-mate Oscar Piastri the win just before the finish line as payback for the reverse happening in Brazil.

But during a press conference after the race, Norris was caught out as he made a blunder by swearing.

The 25-year-old tripped up on the word privileges, before trying to say it again.

However, he failed at the second time of asking as well, prompting him to mutter “s***”.

Norris immediately realised what he had said and quickly apologised.

He then put his head in his hands in regret of the screw-up.

George Russell, who finished third in the sprint, joked: “That’s a fine,” before Norris eventually said privileges correctly and chuckled to himself.

The FIA have fined multiple drivers this season for using explicit language in interviews.

Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc have both been hit with fines for swearing this season at the Singapore and Mexican Grand Prix respectively.

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But angry drivers responded under the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association – headed by Russell and including all 20 F1 drivers – by releasing a scathing 330-word statement at the start of November.

They have urged the sport’s bosses to appreciate a distinction between “swearing intended to insult others and more casual swearing, such as you might use to describe bad weather, or indeed an inanimate object such as a Formula 1 car, or a driving situation”.

The GPDA also warned FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem about his “tone and language” towards the drivers, insisting their “members are adults” and they “do not need to be given instructions via the media”.

The statement went on to raise concerns over the “negative image financial fines bring to the sport”.

Speaking before the Las Vegas Grand Prix which he won, Russell said many drivers were “fed up with the whole situation”.

Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk