FIA president waives ‘€5,000’ Lando Norris fine after X-rated acceptance speech
McLaren driver Lando Norris has had a few run ins with the FIA during his F1 career
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem quipped that he almost issued a “€5,000 fine” to Lando Norris for swearing during his speech at Friday’s prize-giving gala.
Norris secured his maiden world championship at last weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, finishing third behind McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and race winner Max Verstappen.
Lando Norris escapes FIA fine after swearing during gala speech
The 26-year-old became the 11th British world champion and the first driver to win the title for McLaren since Lewis Hamilton, now of Ferrari, in 2008.
Norris was officially crowned world champion at Friday’s annual end-of-season awards ceremony in Uzbekistan, where he was presented with the trophy.
After being welcomed on to the stage by Ben Sulayem, who playfully ruffled his hair, Norris went on to admit that McLaren had “our fair share of mistakes and f**k ups” during the F1 2025 season.
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Ben Sulayem responded by chortling “5,000” – a reference to the ban imposed by the FIA on drivers swearing in professional settings.
Against the backdrop of laughter, Ben Sulayem joked that he had considered handing Norris a fine for swearing before pointing out that the money might be better spent on sorting out the world champion’s hair.
“First of all, when he said the ‘eff’, it was going to be a €5,000 fine,” Ben Sulayem said before handing the world championship trophy to Norris. “But now I think you need it for your hair after I messed it!”
Norris paid tribute to McLaren, Piastri and Verstappen – who missed the ceremony through illness – during his acceptance speech.
He told the audience: “Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Pleasure to be here in Uzbekistan for the first time.
“I hope my hair is not too bad now. I put so much effort into that…
“Where do I start? Obviously, I’ll start with these guys. Congratulations and thank you to McLaren, the team I’ve been with for many, many years, on giving both of us an incredible car that, at times, made our life very easy and beautiful and we could bring home many wins all the way to the end of the season.
“Of course, Mr Piastri, the incredible teammate that I’ve had, who’s helped me improve so much over the last few seasons and made us a team that we are, allowed us McLaren to turn into the team, winning two constructors’ back to back.
“Of course, to Max as well for challenging us the whole way, putting us under pressure, just doing what Max always does!
“But it was incredible. Obviously, this is a lot of people’s dreams, a lot of racing drivers’ dreams and I got to finally live it, live that one dream that I had when I was a little kid.
“I remember standing on the stage many, many years ago, 2014 I think it was, standing on stage with [Sir] Jackie [Stewart]. Even before that, I think.
“So it’s been amazing to grow up here alongside a lot of you guys, to live it with McLaren, to get to race all the world champions that I’ve been racing against: Lewis, Max, Seb [Vettel], Fernando [Alonso], all the incredible drivers that I looked up to and watched when I was a little kid and get that chance to race against them, to try beat them, to show what I can do against them all and we managed to do that this year.
“So I’m very proud, very happy. Of course, I got very emotional on Sunday after the race, then got extremely drunk and had an amazing time.
“So thank you very much, everyone. Thanks to you guys here. A pleasure.”
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Norris was then asked how intense the battle was during the season, with the McLaren driver dropping the fateful F-bomb as he conceded that he and McLaren had made “our fair share of mistakes.”
He said: “How intense? I’m more nervous here than I am on the grid!
“Oscar certainly didn’t make my life easy. We’ve had we’ve had a great rivalry and competition against each other for the last three years.
“Obviously the second half of the season and Max catching up, putting pressure on both of us, on all of us as a team.
“We’ve had some great moments. Of course, we’ve had some great wins.
“Winning in Monaco was a dream for me, winning at Silverstone [was] a dream, but I and we had our fair share of mistakes and f**k ups.
“Can I say that here? Oh, sorry, yeah. I got fined. I can pay it off now!
“We still made our fair share of mistakes and tough moments along the way, but all worth it, all part of the story.
“And if it’s this fierce for many more years to come, I’m sure it’s going to be tough but I look forward to it.”
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