Lando Norris dropped an F-bomb in his world champion speech. The FIA president turned it into a punchline.
At the federation’s end‑of‑season gala in Uzbekistan, Norris was officially handed the 2025 world championship trophy — the first McLaren driver to do so since Lewis Hamilton in 2008, and the 11th Briton to wear the crown. He’d clinched it six days earlier in Abu Dhabi with a measured P3 behind Oscar Piastri and race winner Max Verstappen.
On stage, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem welcomed Norris with a hair-ruffle and a grin, then nearly made it expensive. When Norris thanked McLaren and reflected on “our fair share of mistakes and f— ups,” Ben Sulayem playfully shot back: “5,000.” A nod to the FIA’s tightened stance on swearing in official settings — and the going rate for a public profanity.
“First of all, when he said the ‘eff’, it was going to be a €5,000 fine,” Ben Sulayem joked, before adding that he’d let the champion keep the cash to undo the Presidential hair muss. The room laughed. So did Norris.
It was a suitably loose end to a high‑wire season. Norris praised McLaren — the team he joined as a teenager — for delivering a car that could go toe‑to‑toe with Red Bull, lauding an internal rivalry with Piastri that sharpened both drivers. He also paid tribute to Verstappen, who missed the ceremony through illness, for the relentless pressure that forced McLaren to keep finding answers.
“Congratulations and thank you to McLaren,” Norris said from the podium. “At times they gave us an incredible car that made life very easy and beautiful. Oscar’s been an incredible teammate, he’s helped me improve so much over the last few seasons. And to Max for challenging us the whole way — doing what Max does.”
He allowed himself a little romance, too. Monaco and Silverstone were on the list of “dream” wins. The title, the one he’d imagined as a kid standing on those same end‑of‑year stages with the greats, finally landed in papaya.
Then he remembered the fine and doubled down with a smile. “We had our fair share of mistakes and f— ups… Can I say that here? Oh, sorry, yeah. I got fined. I can pay it off now!”
Behind the levity sits the story of a driver who found the last few percentage points when it mattered. Norris and Piastri traded heavy punches all year; Verstappen, inevitably, surged in the second half and kept them honest. But Norris’ Abu Dhabi weekend was peak champion: no heroics, no panic, just enough. The kind of Sunday where you lock the door and throw the bolt.
Verstappen’s absence at the gala left a small gap on the night, but the message from everyone in orange was clear: this wasn’t a one‑off. McLaren has hauled itself back to the front, and Norris is the driver who dragged the dream across the line. Two straight constructors’ titles for Woking — as Norris cheekily noted — tell their own story about depth and direction.
He didn’t pretend it was perfect. “We still made our fair share of mistakes and tough moments along the way, but all worth it, all part of the story,” he said. The delivery was breezy, but you could hear the relief under it. Those missed chances earlier in his career, the near‑misses that stung — they fuelled this one.
If there was a fitting epilogue, it was Norris admitting he got “extremely drunk” after sealing the title in Abu Dhabi. That’s the kid from Bristol who grew up in the paddock finally exhaling. The champion who’ll wake up in 2026 with a target on his back. And, as Friday proved, the showman who can turn a swear word into a running gag with the sport’s top official.
Ben Sulayem’s mock fine won’t appear on any ledger. The real figure is the one engraved on the trophy Norris carried off stage: World Drivers’ Champion, 2025. McLaren’s back on the top step. So is a Brit. And if the hair survived the handshake, that’s just a bonus.
