McLaren star Lando Norris made headlines for his rather large gaffe during a live stream whereby he incorrectly referred to Lewis Hamilton as an eight-time world champion, before immediately realising his error and reacting in real time.
Hamilton is currently a seven-time Formula 1 world champion and holds the record alongside Michael Schumacher for the most World Drivers’ Championships, but narrowly missed out on what would’ve been a record-breaking eighth world title in controversial circumstances at the end of the 2021 season.
Hamilton and Max Verstappen headed into the final race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, level on points meaning the winner would take all on the day.
The Brit led the race before a safety car was deployed towards the end, but instead of the race ending under the safety car, the rules were altered to ensure drivers raced to the finish, and with Verstappen having pitted for fresh tyres behind Hamilton, the Dutchman was able to make the overtake and clinch his maiden world championship.
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While on stream on Twitch, fellow Brit Norris was discussing a collection of race helmets on display behind him. In a video posted to SPORTbible, Norris accidentally slipped up: “This one here is when Lewis [Hamilton] won his eighth world championship.”
He then very quickly realised his error, and after ducking out of view for a considerable period, re-emerged with a sheepish face and simply added: “Oh no!” Amid a fit of laughter.
In similar circumstances, the 2023 Australian Grand Prix was forced to end under a safety car, the way in which the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix ultimately should have done, which would’ve ensured Hamilton became an eight-time world champion.
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Former race director Michael Masi, who was in attendance at Albert Park, stepped down following the chaos that ended the 2021 season, which was declared a mistake by ‘human error’.
Hamilton was able to clinch an impressive P2 finish behind Verstappen in Melbourne, the highlight of yet another difficult season thus far as Mercedes desperately try and get to grips with the new car regulations after dominating the previous turbo-hybrid era.
But while the weekend ended positively for Hamilton, the season looks set to be another long one with Verstappen, now a two-time world champion, already commanding a 15-point gap at the top of the Driver Standings ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez in second, and a 24-point gap to third-placed Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.