Recently re-elected FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem could not resist a playful moment with the newly-crowned Formula 1 world champion, Lando Norris, at the governing body’s annual gala awards.
Norris officially collected the drivers’ championship trophy, having sealed the title in Abu Dhabi on Monday morning (AEDT), but not before a bizarre interaction with Sulayem.
As Norris took to the stage, he was met by Sulaymen.
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FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem aggressively tousles Lando Norris’s hair at the FIA awards gala. FIA via YouTube
The greeting started normal enough with a polite handshake before things took an unexpected turn when Sulayem aggressively tousled the Brit’s hair.
While the presenters and accompanying McLaren heavyweights Andrea Stella, Zak Brown and Oscar Piastri were seen laughing along, the moment was not so well-received online, with fans questioning and criticising the hair-messing act.
“I hope my hair’s not too bad now. I put so much effort into that,” Norris said.
Sulayem has tousled Norris’s hair on at least two prior occasions.
Fans had already seen the repeated gag in the cooldown room and again on the podium following Norris’s third-place finish at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Addressing the room, Norris offered up his reflections on his intense battle with Red Bull rival Max Verstappen, dropping an F-bomb while discussing the title fight.
Lando Norris raises the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship trophy at the FIA gala awards. Handout/FIA/DPPI via Getty Images
“Obviously, the second half of the season, Max was catching up, putting pressure on both of us, and all of us as a team,” he said.
“We’ve had some great moments, of course. We’ve had some great wins, winning in Monaco was a dream for me, and Silverstone was a dream, but we had our share of mistakes and f—-ups. Can I say that here? Oh, sorry, I got fined. I can pay it off now.
“We still made a fair share of mistakes and tough moments along the way, but it was all worth it, and all part of the story, and fierce for many more years to come. I’m sure it’s going to be tough.”
At the start of this year, the FIA introduced significantly stricter rules on swearing, with drivers fined for profanity in official communications.
Before presenting the trophy, Sulayem quipped that he was going to fine Norris for swearing, but since he thoroughly ruined his hair, he thought the young champ would need that cash to fix it up.
“When he said the F[-word], I was going to give you a 5000 [euros] fine, but now I think you need it for your hair after I messed it,” he said.
Lando Norris speaks with FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem before accepting the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship trophy. Handout/FIA/DPPI via Getty Images
The fine Sulayem joked about is the revised base penalty, reduced from an initial base maximum of €10,000 that was implemented after drivers protested the severity.
During his acceptance speech, Norris acknowledged and thanked McLaren and his teammate Piastri for helping drive his success.
“Congratulations and thank you to McLaren, the team I’ve been with for many, many years, on giving both of us an incredible car that at times made our life very easy and beautiful, and we could bring home many wins, all the way to the end of the season,” he said.
“Of course, Mr Piastri, the incredible teammate that I’ve had, who has helped me improve so much over the last few seasons and made us the team that we are, allowed us to turn into the team. Winning two constructors’ [championships] back-to-back.
“To Max as well, for challenging us the whole way, putting us under pressure, just doing what Max does.
“It was incredible, obviously this is a lot of people’s dreams, a lot of racing drivers’ dreams, and I got to finally live that one dream that I had when I was a little kid. I remember standing on the stage here many, many years ago in 2014 with Jackie [Stewart].”