Lando Norris Steps Back from Social Media Amid Title Battle
Formula 1 driver Lando Norris has decided to step away from social media as the competition for the championship with his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, intensifies.
“I haven’t been on social media for a few weeks,” Norris told British media in Imola, before the seventh race of the season, which consists of 24.
Norris explained that he simply doesn’t enjoy social media and doesn’t need it. He added that he can do what he likes with his life.
The Briton won the season’s inaugural race in Melbourne, but Piastri took the lead in Jeddah last month. The Australian extended his lead to 16 points in Miami on May 4, with his fourth victory in six races, and could add his fourth consecutive victory at the Imola circuit on Sunday.
Norris, one of the most popular Formula 1 drivers, has a large number of followers on Instagram and is known for speaking openly about mental health issues and for making self-deprecating comments.
Lando Norris said that there are other things he wants to do with his time.
Recalling how Kimi Raikkonen, 2007 world champion and known for not being a fan of social media, used to say that in an ideal world he would throw his phone into a lake, Norris replied: “I’m probably the same.”
“I enjoy not using my phone as much as I used to,” he stated.
“I still use my phone and I still text my friends and all of these things. I just see social media more, from my perspective, as a waste of time and energy and I just don’t need it,” he added.
“I don’t want them. I don’t find them interesting. I feel like I have more time to do the things I want to do. I just want to spend time with my friends. I’m going to play golf, I train, and I do productive things.”
Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix will be Lewis Hamilton’s first race in Italy for Ferrari. The seven-time world champion made headlines earlier in the week when it was noticed that he no longer followed anyone on Instagram.
With 39.5 million followers, Hamilton had never followed many accounts, but now he doesn’t follow Ferrari or his teammate Charles Leclerc, nor even his Mission 44 foundation and his pet bulldog Roscoe.
The Briton had already done something similar before, after losing an eighth title in the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, when he was at Mercedes.
“Lewis can do whatever he wants. I’m fine with it,” said Norris, whose Instagram account has four posts from May, the most recent on the ninth.
