Lando Norris reveals outcome of bizarre drinks can cooldown room moment

AUSTIN – Lando Norris has revealed nothing further was said to him about drinking a Coca-Cola in the cooldown room at the Madring, although McLaren “might have been told off”.

The McLaren driver finished third at the Spanish Grand Prix, which was held at the Madring for the first time, and brought a can of Coca-Cola into the cooldown room.

Lando Norris and Coca-Cola-gate

But sitting on the couch enjoying his drink after a hard race, an official told Norris off for drinking the Coke.

He clapped back: “I just did a race, so I’m allowed to drink what I would like. Thank you so much.”

And it was a gruelling race.

Max Verstappen took 1h 42m to win the Grand Prix, with the air temperature hovering around 30°C and a track temperature of close to 55°C.

Although no official reason was given for the official’s complaint about Norris’ drink of choice, it is Coca-Cola’s rival Pepsi that sponsors F1. As such, having another logo on the international feed may not have been something F1 wanted.

It had former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner calling Norris’ actions unprofessional.

“If you are a professional, you don’t do that. End of story,” he told the Red Flags podcast.

“Is it a bad thing that he did it? No, but I suppose you shouldn’t do it, but he has done it, and you know what? I couldn’t give a s**t. For Coca-Cola, it worked out pretty good.”

Norris, though, faced no repercussions for his actions.

In fact, the reigning world champion hasn’t heard another word on the matter. That, though, doesn’t mean McLaren wasn’t giving a talking-to as the team now has “unbranded” holders for the drivers to put their drinks in.

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“No, no one’s ever said anything to me since,” he told the media in Austin.

“Yeah, I feel like we should be allowed to drink whatever we want after a race, especially when you’re in it for two hours. It’s been some of the hardest races, these cars are also difficult to drive.

“I feel like I should be allowed to drink what I want.

“I think the team might have been told off more than I was, and therefore we have like little holders to put our drinks in, so it’s unbranded.

“But I think I’m allowed to drink whatever I can. It’s just the branding issues they have.

“But this is not something I need to be thinking of, or I should be thinking of. So it’s some stuff I’m sure that was cleared up between other people.

“But yeah, that’s simply what it was. I think it’s just TV and branding and all of those things.

“But I can drink what I would like.”

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