Lando Norris issues apology as he opens up on David Beckham message | F1 | Sport

British Formula 1 champion Lando Norris name-checked David Beckham as one of the many people who reached out to congratulate him on his title success. Norris, 25, last December became the latest Brit to win the F1 championship, beating Max Verstappen to the crown by two points to end the Red Bull racer’s run of consecutive titles at four.

Norris celebrated his success by partying long into the night in Abu Dhabi, before swiftly returning to the track only a few days later to drive in the post-season test. He then spent some time out of the public eye over the winter break, before pulling on his helmet once again to drive his new McLaren car at last week’s pre-season shakedown test in Barcelona.

He has also resumed his media duties, appearing on The Fast and the Curious podcast to reflect on his success. Norris was asked about the congratulatory messages he received in the hours and days after his title win, only to admit: “Honestly, I’ve not read half of them!

“I have so many that I’ve not even looked at. I need to, but it takes quite a while. I have probably replied to half of them. So, I’ve still got four days of trying to just go through every single one, whether it’s on Instagram or on WhatsApp or something, but there’s just a lot of amazing people.

“There’s a lot of people from different sports. Whether they’re incredible at the sport, like one of the best, or they’re people that I’ve watched growing up, young people, old people. When you see something like that, the amount of support you get or just congratulations and respect is something that I admire a lot. It’s a beautiful thing. But I do apologise to anyone that I’ve not responded to yet.”

Asked if legendary England footballer Beckham had reached out, Norris added: “We speak every now and then about different things. He did send me a message. David is always great. He’s in the garage every now and then in Bahrain, Qatar, and a few different places. He’s a cool guy, so it’s always nice when his name pops up for sure.”

For football fans, Beckham’s name is synonymous with the number seven he wore on the back of his shirt in a stellar career for club and country, pulling on England, Manchester United and Real Madrid colours, among others. Norris is well-known in F1 circles for using the number four on his car, even incorporating it into his personal brand ‘LN4’.

But he has given it up this year in favour of the number one he is entitled to use as the defending champion, explaining: “It’s tradition, it’s there for a reason. It’s there because you can go and try grab it and you can work hard to try and get it. All of us as a team that gets to have a role in McLaren, or my car, will get to wear that with pride. It’s all my mechanics, my engineers, everyone that’s part of McLaren gets to have that acknowledgement too. So, it’s not for me, it’s for them as well.”