‘One question, Ted’: Norris brushes off Kravitz as McLaren keeps Singapore fallout in-house
Lando Norris has never been shy about a punchline, but in Austin he used it as a shield. When Sky’s Ted Kravitz tried to press for the latest on McLaren’s internal response to Norris’ Singapore clash with Oscar Piastri — and whether it dents his 2025 title push — the Briton coolly pulled the shutters down.
From what I understand, it’s one question each. So… thanks very much, he said with a thin smile, effectively ending the exchange. Kravitz, doing what Kravitz does, tried to squeeze in the follow-up anyway. Norris wasn’t biting.
It was a small moment in the mixed zone, yet it landed in the middle of a bigger storm: another round of chatter about “British bias” in the paddock, and whether certain narratives get more oxygen when a rivalry features a British driver. That debate has bubbled away for a while, flaring up last season during George Russell’s war of words with Max Verstappen after that awkward Qatar qualifying saga.
Kravitz became part of that story too. In his book Notes from the Pit Lane, he recounts Russell asking him to break the one-question convention so he could “give it back” to Verstappen and call out what he described as bullying tactics. It says plenty about how combustible the political side of F1 can be — and how one extra question can become a wrecking ball.
So here we are again: a tense title fight, a high-profile British driver, and a Sky mic trying to thread the needle. Only this time the stakes are inside McLaren’s own garage.
McLaren’s line after Singapore has been consistent and, frankly, old-school. Whatever repercussions Norris faced for barging into Piastri on lap one are nobody’s business but theirs. CEO Zak Brown repeated as much in Austin, keeping the specifics sealed and the tone firm. Our drivers are in a good place. We want them racing hard, not touching, was the message in essence. The subtext? Two genuine title contenders under one roof is exactly what this team’s been building toward — and exactly the kind of headache they’d prefer to manage behind closed doors.
It’s not hard to see why. Norris and Piastri are both squarely in this championship fight, and McLaren’s 2025 car has given them the pace — and the confidence — to go hunting every Sunday. When that happens, the risk profile changes. You can either defuse the rivalry with heavy-handed team orders and accept a ceiling on results, or you let it run hot and hope it doesn’t boil over. McLaren’s chosen the latter, with guardrails. Singapore crossed one. Austin was about restoring the line.
Norris’ brusque handling of Kravitz won’t charm everyone, but it fits the mood. Drivers in a title hunt protect oxygen like a resource. The moment you start litigating internal discipline in public, you’ve handed the narrative to those who’d love to see a split. And let’s be honest: every title tilt of the modern era has come with an undercurrent of perception battle — who gets the calls, whose strategy went long, which engineer blinked first.
That’s where the “British bias” chorus pipes up. It’s a catchy tune, as evergreen as engine penalties. But this isn’t about passports; it’s about stakes. When a team finds itself with two number ones, every decision becomes a referendum, and every microphone invites a conclusion.
Could McLaren have doused it with transparency? Maybe. Lay out the sanctions, move on. But there’s also logic in refusing to turn a garage meeting into a press release. The scoreboard that matters isn’t the paddock whisper count — it’s the points total on Sunday night.
The best indicator of where this really goes will be the track craft between Norris and Piastri from here. And there, McLaren’s message seems clear: race, but leave each other room, because the only thing worse than losing a title to a rival is giving it away to your teammate.
As for Kravitz, he did his job. As for Norris, he did his. The funny thing about “one question each” is it says exactly what it needs to without telling you anything at all. Which, given the stakes at McLaren right now, is probably the point.
