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Imago

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Imago

Ever since McLaren got their act together, Lando Norris has become a nuisance for the front-runners. In the past couple of race weekends, barring the 2023 Belgian GP, the 23-year-old has been making some epic moves on the way to the podium. At the British GP, Norris gave Max Verstappen a short-lived headache as he led his home race in the starting laps of the Grand Prix. The next race on, at Hungary, the Brit decided to still be a thorn in the side of the Dutch lion.

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Norris collected his first-ever consecutive podium finish in Formula 1 at the 2023 Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest. And on the podium, he decided to unleash his trademark ‘champagne popping’ shenanigans. And in the celebratory chaos that ensued, 2x champion, Verstappen came off worse than the lot! As Norris banged his bottle of champagne on the rostrum, Verstappen’s P1 trophy, worth around an eye-watering $40,000 fell off the stand broke.

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Lando Norris stands acquitted of podium antics

While Verstappen has been making a habit of collecting P1 trophies in 2023, he’d still like to have had that exquisite Hungarian GP porcelain trophy intact with him at home. Nevertheless, though delayed, it would appear as though a bespoke replacement is on its way to Milton Keynes.

The CEO of Herend Porcelánmanufaktúra Zrt, the company that crafts and manufactures the trophy for F1, Dr. Simon Attila was quoted as saying, “Production started at the beginning of August and the painting and gilding work is currently underway. We will be ready by the end of September at the latest.”

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“We would like to thank all F1 fans for their positive reactions. It confirms that we made the right decision when we took on the free replacement of the trophy.”

Read More: Month After Lewis Hamilton’s Scandalous Accusations, Lando Norris Confesses to Red Bull’s Blatant Influence

But with the team of expert craftsmen working tirelessly to indemnify Verstappen, how serious is Lando Norris to make amends?

Norris seemingly snubs efforts to restore Verstappen’s broken accolade

The McLaren racing ace was very apologetic about the entire incident. And its safe to say that there is no bad blood between the two trailblazers of our sport. That being said, though, even though the doors were left open for him to visit the factory where the new trophy is being manufactured, Norris has decided to skip the event.

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Attila continued, “We always welcome everyone to the manufactory’s visitor centre to learn about the extremely high level of professionalism of hand-painted porcelain and porcelain-making and the process of value creation in Herend. We have had no communication with his team regarding Lando Norris’s visit, we are currently focusing on remaking the trophy.”

How many more broken trophies do we have to witness before Norris masters his trademark celebration?

WATCH THIS STORY | Helmut Marko’s Frightening Reality Slap: Lewis Hamilton Downplays Max Verstappen’s Dominance!

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Anirban Aly Mandal

1,126 Articles

Anirban Aly Mandal is a senior F1 writer at EssentiallySports, with over 1000 articles published on the platform. Anirban's love for F1 started when he discovered a copy of F1 2014 while playing on his computer, and he has since then dived deep into the world of motorsports. Anirban's expertise goes beyond just writing - he has also written several academic papers focused on the domain of motorsports. His passion for the sport is so immense that he aspires to work as a legal advisor in the most prestigious racing series in the world someday. When it comes to F1, Anirban finds great pleasure in re-watching classic races and idolizes the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, and Sebastian Vettel. His top picks include Brazil '91, Silverstone '92, and Germany '19. Outside of the sport, Anirban is an avid sim-racer, often found racing on titles like Assetto Corsa, F1 22, and Automobilista. He's also a fan of the PES series and other sporting and non-sporting games. Apart from his interests in gaming, Anirban has a keen interest in philosophy, literature, music, and Anglo-Saxon history.

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