Ahead of F1’s return to Malaysia, McLaren’s Lando Norris weighed in on the social media backlash he received following the 2026 Azerbaijan GP after making strongly worded remarks about Alpine’s Franco Colapinto in the media pen after the race.
The Briton became an innocent victim of a multi-car pileup during a mid-race safety car restart when Colapinto locked up and collided with teammate Pierre Gasly, who then collected the reigning World Champion and sent him into the barriers at Turn 1.
Norris’ comments in the media pen after the race did not sit well with many on social media, particularly with some Argentinian fans. The Briton later issued a public apology on social media, revealing that he and Colapinto had spoken and apologised to each other for the collision and comments that followed.
“Nothing more” than an apology exchanged
Speaking in a print media session ahead of the weekend, Norris revealed what his conversation with the Argentine involved.
“I mean, it wasn’t a long conversation, I apologised to him for the words and some of the things I said that were wrong and he apologised to me for the incident and obviously the crash, which was good,” he said.
“I like Franco a lot, he’s a very nice guy. We always talk on our track walk, on our driver’s parades and things like that, so I have a lot of time for him. But yeah, we were both just apologising to each other, so nothing more than that.”
As Colapinto did not finish the race, the stewards converted his ten-second time penalty into a five-place grid drop for this weekend’s race. When asked for his thoughts on the decision, Norris had little to say.
“And the penalty, it’s difficult to say, I mean, it’s not my decision.”
The intent behind his public apology
“Yeah, it was more for the wider audience, I would say. I said what I wanted to to Franco and he’s the only one really that I need to share my opinion with and share my apology with,” said Norris when asked whether the situation was addressed to ease tensions between the fanbases online.
“I don’t need to do it on social media and I don’t feel like I need to use social media to do such a thing. But at the same time, there obviously was a lot of that noise and stuff in the background, and I thought it was only sensible to announce or show that I made that apology and I accept that I was in the wrong.”
He added: “I think I’m one of, generally always the first person, the same as when I’m with my driving, to accept when I’ve done something wrong and said something or done something that I’ve not.”
“So I think because it was on TV and because it was something I said on TV, I thought it was fair that I shared it with everyone because they all saw it, and I didn’t think it was a true value of how I held myself.”
Norris: Platforms, sports and athletes must continue working to stop online abuse
However, while the 26 year-old has been open about his social media usage in recent years, he admitted social media backlash and abuse have become an unfortunate and inescapable part of being in the sport.
“But yeah, at the same time, I do still see social media at times, and I saw some bits, some not so good, some better, but sadly that’s what we deal with, and that’s what I think a lot of sports deal with, which is some of it’s down to just passion and that’s what you always have in sports, and I think you kind of will always have. I think you see a lot more of it because social media is such an easy thing to share your opinions on.”
While Norris acknowledged that criticism comes with being a public figure in the sport, he drew a clear line when it escalates into online abuse and death threats. The Briton believes tackling such behaviour will require a collective effort from all parties involved.
“And to a certain extent, I completely respect it, but obviously to the extent of online abuse, death threats, all those things, those are things that I think are way too far beyond being a fan of a sport or a driver or a person or an athlete, whatever it is. And I think there’s a line, but it’s not new.
“It’s something that’s been around every sport for a long time and I think it just highlights more the fact that social media platforms, sports need to do more, maybe the people, the drivers, athletes, whoever, more to stop this kind of stuff from happening, because some people can deal with it much better than others.”
Norris not afraid to continue speaking out on issues
The McLaren driver believes there is a fine line when choosing to speak out on certain issues. While Norris understood why his comments caused division and backlash, the situation has not deterred him from voicing his opinion on matters he believes are worth addressing.
“Well, I mean, it depends,” he said. “I should never have said some of the stuff that I said, so I get why some people might have been more unhappy, let’s just say upset, which is understandable.
“Obviously, there’s that line which was crossed at times quite a lot, which is not just being upset at someone, this is much, much worse. But I think I’m always happy, in general, in speaking my mind and saying if I like things, don’t like things, if I agree with things or not.”
He added: “I know I’m not able to please everyone and you’re never going to have everyone on your side, so I think that’s normal and that’s life and that’s what you have to come around to accept at the end of the day.
“But I think there are a few things that should upset anyone in terms of how you talk about racism and things like that. Like I said before, it’s an area that should kind of never happen no matter what, but there’s also nothing that, from a normal point of view, from myself, that I’m afraid of speaking about.”
