Lando Norris has gone viral on social media after his Brazilian Grand Prix podium mishap.
The McLaren driver controlled almost everything that came his way at Interlagos, right up until he got to the podium.
The 2025 champion went for his usual party trick after collecting his trophy, crouching down and slamming the base of the champagne bottle onto the ground to send the contents fizzing out the top. But this time, the bottle gave way on impact and smashed on the floor. He then stepped forward and appeared to be hit in the face by the podium fireworks.
Norris did not seem to be hurt by the incident and was seen laughing it off with Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar, who had finished second and third, respectively.
The moment quickly went viral on social media. “Broke the bottle, walked into the fireworks. Not a win he’ll forget easily,” one fan commented on Reddit, while another added: “Next race they’ll hand him a participation certificate printed on laminated paper.”
“Another Lando classic moment on the podium,” someone else posted, while another wrote: “Destroyed the bottle with a pretty majestic slam… and then put his head inside a flowing firework stream. That’s gotta be worth at least one extra point or something haha.”
Further reactions included: “Classic Lando on the podium shenanigans” and “This was hilarious. Breaks the bottle, takes the pyrotechnics to the face, and is then immediately sprayed by all three of them while dying of embarrassment.”
Norris has celebrated this way since his junior racing days, and he explained how it works on the F1 Explains podcast last year. “Instead of shaking the bottle and then spraying it, you smash it against the ground,” he said. “The trick here is to not smash it. And the trick to that is by having a very, very thick, strong bottle.”
The mishap did not take much of the shine off Norris’s afternoon. He beat Verstappen by 14.602 seconds in changing conditions to take his third win of the season, with Hadjar completing the podium in third.
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