Lando Norris had a cheeky response to Lewis Hamilton's new helmet design, entering into a tribute war of sorts. Norris hilariously thanked the seven-time world champion for the coincidental tribute that the Mercedes driver was not even aware of.
In an Instagram story, the McLaren driver reposted Hamilton's new helmet design with the caption:
“Thanks for the helmet tribute to me”
In response, Lewis Hamilton took to his Instagram to shoot right back at Norris with a repost of the Instagram story captioned:
“Well actually I was using yellow before you were born so in retrospect, yours is a tribute to me. Respect.”
Lewis Hamilton revealed his new helmet design yesterday ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, returning to yellow, which was the color he made his F1 debut with. Over the past few seasons, purple has been the prominent color of the Briton's Mercedes helmet.
Meanwhile, Lando Norris has gone for the yellow and generally a similar color scheme in all three years of his F1 career with McLaren. The color scheme is essentially to promote the 22-year-old's e-sports team, Quadrant.
The new yellow helmet represents new beginnings for Hamilton, who will be chasing his eighth world championship title after devastatingly losing it to Max Verstappen at the end of last year.
Lando Norris on the mind games played by Lewis Hamilton
Lando Norris had his best season so far in 2021. Some exciting battles against his Mercedes compatriot Lewis Hamilton went on to prove that the McLaren driver has what it takes to become a real title contender.
As reported by the Express, Norris shared what it's like to have a seven-time world champion breathing down your neck. He said:
“It’s a tricky one, because the first few times I really began or had a chance to race him were like Austria, you would say Russia. Can I keep a seven-time champion behind me? They do play on your mind a little bit.”
He went on to add, saying:
“I’m going round, just on the straight, you’re thinking alright ‘what is he going to try and do now?’ What has he understood or what’s he learnt over the past whatever 20 years he’s gonna try and outsmart me on.”
The season gets underway this weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where each driver will push their limits for the first time in 2022.