McLaren F1 star Lando Norris soaked by boss in Austrian GP slip-up

Andrea Stella, Lando Norris, generic, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

Austrian Grand Prix

Norris soaked by McLaren F1 boss in Austrian GP slip-up

The papaya pit wall were up to no good in Austria

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Friday 27 June 2025 22:56

McLaren F1 star Lando Norris suffered a soaking at the hands of team principal Andrea Stella after a hilarious interaction at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old found himself in the unfamiliar position of being seated among McLaren's finest strategists and technological minds on the pit wall on Friday as his MCL39 was loaned to McLaren junior Alex Dunne.

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The 19-year-old currently leads the F2 championship and, upon taking to the track in Spielberg for FP1, became the first Irishman to appear at an F1 race weekend in 22 years.

He certainly impressed the pit wall after finishing P4 just behind Norris' team-mate Oscar Piastri, although Stella and Norris appeared more focused on a trackside slip-up at times during the weekend's first practice session.

The British racer and his F1 boss could be seen giggling as FP1 went on after papaya principal Stella managed to spill his water all over Norris' pit wall seat, sending the bottle flying.

The moment was picked up on Sky F1's broadcast, where reporter Ted Kravitz noted: "Oh no, Andrea Stella's just dropped his water bottle. Is Lando going to help him with it?

"He's poured it on the floor, and he's dropped it, Lando is helping him."

The broadcast team quickly noticed the wide smile plastered across Norris' face, however, realising: "Oh he's got the water all over Lando's seat, oh we don't want a wet bum after everything else Lando's had to deal with this weekend."

As Norris allowed his McLaren boss to mop up the mess with an appropriately papaya coloured cloth, the duo were in fits of laughter, with Kravitz adding: "Oh that's a nice little scene."

Norris bouncing back at Austrian GP

It was at least a positive sign to see Norris in good spirits on Friday ahead of his return to the track in Austria after a grand prix to forget last time out.

The British star finally let his competitive nature and hunt for his maiden championship get the better of him, ramming into the back of team-mate Piastri in the closing stages of the Canadian GP.

After going for a blindly optimistic lunge down the inside in Montreal to a space that quite simply wasn't there, Norris refused to let his downtrodden attitude take over, claiming responsibility for the incident and no doubt hoping to move on quickly.

With just 22 points separating him and championship leader Piastri, Norris will be looking for a serious points haul in Sunday's race in Austria to make up for the DNF last time out.