Lando Norris says Lewis Hamilton can ‘stick the middle finger up’ to online critics

Lando Norris said Lewis Hamilton is able to “stick the middle finger up” to everyone who gave him “a lot of crap online” after his win in Barcelona.

Hamilton won for the first time in 686 days, and for the first time for Ferrari, in Barcelona, putting himself in realistic contention for the World Championship for the first time since 2021.

Lando Norris reacts to Lewis Hamilton victory

10 months on since Hamilton told Ferrari to ‘change driver’ as his form had been so bad, the now 41-year-old looked back to his best with an excellent middle stint propelling him to race victory.

And while a virtual safety car caused by former teammate Fernando Alonso was advantageous, data suggested Hamilton could have won the race even without the helping hand.

The seven-time World Champion was late arriving to the post-race press conference as he discussed with other media and before he arrived, the two other podium placers Norris and George Russell were asked for their opinion of their compatriot’s win.

Norris suggested it was a result that would silence a lot of Hamilton’s critics.

“It’s pretty special,” he said. “The last few weekends he’s certainly seemed to have upped his game. It seems like he’s making the most of what he’s got now, and that’s cool to see.

“I grew up as a fan of Lewis and I don’t know if I would still say I’m like that kind of fan, but I’m still a fan of him. And as a seven-time World Champion, it’s always a pleasure to see those kinds of things.

“And with Ferrari again, it’s even cooler to kind of see that partnership come through and kind of pay dividends, as it is doing now.

“I’m happy for him. I hope he’s not this fast the whole season, because it would be nice if we could battle a bit more, but good for him.

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“I think you could see how much it meant to him. At the same time, he’s obviously had a lot of people talk badly about him and he’s got a lot of crap online from a lot of people, so it’s nice that he can stick the middle finger up to all of them.”

Norris also made a note of the constitution of the podium which featured three drivers from Britain for the first time since 1968.

“Also, to share the podium with him and then with George, to have three Brits up there, I think the first time since 1968, I think someone said.

“Pretty special, pretty cool for us to represent our country that way.”

British drivers have achieved that feat 12 times in F1 history, more than any other nation. Italy has done it six times, all in the 1950s, while France has done it three times from 1980 to 1983.

The United States has achieved the feat 11 times but all of those occurrences came when the Indy 500 was a part of the F1 calendar.

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