Lando Norris or how to destroy a 40,000-euro porcelain on the podium

The second podium of 2023, just two weeks after Silverstone, filled Lando Norris with joy, who once again extracted the full potential of the MCL60 at the Hungaroring. The euphoria of the British pilot moved to the podium, where he uncorked the champagne in such an effusive way that he ended up breaking Max Verstappen's trophy, made by hand and valued at 40,000 euros.

“It was not totally my responsibility, because Max put it too close to the edge,” said Carlos Sainz's former teammate shortly after the unfortunate incident.. A scene that surprised the mechanics and journalists present in the vicinity of the podium, stunned after the formidable bottleneck with which Norris shook Verstappen's step.

“Every time I got on the podium I have repeated that gesture,” added Norris, who two weeks ago led more than 160,000 compatriots to delirium with his second place at Silverstone. Although this Sunday, Sergio Pérez snatched the podium from Oscar Piastri, the Woking team is now emerging ahead of Mercedes, Ferrari or Aston Martin.

six months of work

Norris, eighth in the World Championship after scoring 48 points in the last three races, smashed a piece of porcelain made by Herend Porcelain Manufactory.. According to the data of this company, the manual work for its elaboration takes six months.

Attila Simon, executive director of Herend, assured the Hungarian press a few days ago that in the event of damage, his company was “prepared to react”, so there was “nothing to fear”.

Norris's curious incident brought to mind what happened just a decade ago in the Indycar, when Sebastian Bourdais also broke his trophy in Toronto. At that time, no responsibility could be attributed to the French pilot, since the piece of glass had not been properly welded to the base..

Despite the bizarre climax, Norris capped off an excellent weekend at the Magyar track. After his third place in qualifying on Saturday and being overtaken at the start by Piastri, he soon found the best rhythm in the papaya car. “It was said that McLaren was not doing a good enough job and we received too much criticism. Now I feel happy to show that some were wrong,” he concluded.