Norris was presented with the Formula 1 drivers’ championship trophy at the FIA Awards, but not before a bizarre sequence.
As he walked onto the stage, he was greeted by Sulaymen who shook the champion’s hand before aggressively messing up the Brit’s hair.
There was laughter among the presenters and accompanying McLaren team members Andrea Stella, Zak Brown, and Oscar Piastri, but the moment received a terse reaction on social media as fans questioned the act.
“I hope my hair’s not too bad now, I put so much effort into that,” said Norris at the end-of-season gala in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
Norris then offered some reflections on his battle with Verstappen, where he dropped an F-bomb.
“Obviously, the second half of the season, Max was catching up, putting pressure on both of us, and all of us as a team,” said Norris.
“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 I and we had our share of mistakes and fuck-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.”
Before presenting the trophy, Sulayem joked that Norris would be better off fixing his hair.
“When he said the F[-word], I was going to give you a 5000 [dollar] fine, but now I think you need it for your hair after I messed it,” said Sulaymen.
Before the bizarre interaction, Norris offered his congratulations to McLaren and paid homage to his teammate Oscar Piastri for pushing his development.
“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,” said Norris.
“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’ back-to-back.
“Of course, 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 driver’s 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].”
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