Max Verstappen approves as Lando Norris refuses to answer question | F1 | Sport
Lando Norris was unwilling to disclose his plans for the summer after complaining about his treatment at the hands of invasive photographers in recent times. The McLaren racer recently spoke of how he was followed by a paparrazo while driving to spend time with friends, while social media footage recently showed him sprinting out of a London private club and away from photographers.
Perhaps those experiences were why he wasn’t keen to answer what was, on the face of it, an innocent question about his holiday plans. The question was put to Norris as well as Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli in the press conference after they formed the top three in the result of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Verstappen and Antonelli were happy to leave Norris to be the one to face that question first, though he was not willing to play along. “Oh, this has got nothing to do with anyone,” he smiled, earning the approval of rival Verstappen who responded: “Good answer.” Norris went on to give generic detail, saying he would “just be with my friends”.
His renewed focus on protecting his privacy comes amid media speculation linking him romantically with American model Alix Earle. The two were spotted together in Cannes in June and were then seen again in July at a private members’ club in London, from which he was spotted running out of to get past paparazzi.
It was in reference to that incident that he said at the Belgian Grand Prix in mid-July: “I am getting a bit older and I want to be able to go out. That doesn’t mean go out and party, that just means have dinners and get out of the house… I have always enjoyed doing that, but now more of it is seen on social media, and there are more cameras.
“The next level is paparazzi waiting for you in places or tailing you. I drove to my friend’s house in London, and I knew a paparazzi was just following me the whole way. And following me through London for 40 minutes, just waiting to see who I was going to meet and where I was going.
“And that’s the first time where I started to feel a bit more violated in my life: that I can’t leave my hotel or house without someone trying to see every move I am doing. It doesn’t feel as though private life is private, it is just life now. That is part of being a Formula 1 driver, but there are boundaries, and I won’t accept people following me. That is just odd.”
Norris is fifth in the drivers’ standings, having won a Grand Prix for the first time this season last Sunday in Budapest. He is 91 points behind championship leader Antonelli with 12 rounds still to go.
