McLaren driver Lando Norris has been criticised for making a distasteful joke about a fellow F1 driver while partying hours after the Singapore Grand Prix, capping a weekend full of controversy for the Brit at Marina Bay.
Norris finished fourth in the Singapore GP, behind third-placed Kimi Antonelli, second-placed Charles Leclerc and race winner Max Verstappen. But his weekend was overshadowed first by a collision with his own teammate during the Sprint race — when Norris clipped Oscar Piastri's front-left wheel at Turn 5, putting the Australian out of the Sprint while Norris finished eighth — and then by a heated clash with a journalist in the media pen.
When a journalist for Dutch broadcaster ViaPlay asked whether his Sprint move on Piastri was "unnecessary," Norris snapped back: "What, to go for a big gap? What's the title of the race?" After the journalist answered "A sprint," Norris continued: "What's after sprint?" — "Race," came the reply. "Wow, good job. It's a race," Norris said. His reaction provoked fans to call him smug and even rude on social media.
The final controversy came in a nightclub video that surfaced after the race, in which Norris appeared to mock an F1 rival while partying in Singapore. The video drew sharp criticism from fans and pundits, who said the behaviour was unbecoming of a driver representing a top team.
Norris later took responsibility for the Sprint incident, saying: "I can't attempt what I did. I should never have attempted it in the first place, even if the move was on. I simply have to think more about the team I represent than about myself. It was a mistake on my part; I let down the team. I've also apologised to all of them, and I owe them all an apology. We'll do better next time."
The Singapore weekend leaves Norris under a cloud as the season heads to the US Grand Prix, with questions over both his on-track judgement and his off-track conduct following one of the most chaotic weekends of the 2026 season.
Pundits noted that the Marina Bay weekend was particularly damaging because each incident compounded the last: a teammate collision that cost Piastri a Sprint result, a tetchy exchange with the media that fed the "smug" narrative, and then nightclub footage that suggested the Brit was not taking the fallout seriously. In a season where McLaren is fighting at the front, team principal communications have stressed collective responsibility — and Norris's solo indiscretions have tested that messaging.
Fan reaction on social media was swift and divided. Some supporters argued the nightclub video was harmless celebration taken out of context; others said a title contender should know better than to hand critics fresh ammunition days after apologising to his team. The episode is likely to follow Norris into the American leg of the season, where every media session will revisit Singapore.