Lando Norris has grown to be one of Formula One’s most popular drivers, but he concedes there is a drawback.
Lando Norris acknowledges that his popularity has sparked “creepy” interest in his personal life from followers.
The McLaren driver has a large social media following and was recently elected F1’s second most popular driver in a fan poll after being active on the streaming platform Twitch.
Norris appreciates the support, but he’s also had to deal with the negative aspects of his fame.
“I think the one bad thing is just personal life with friends, people who through no fault of their own get put into the spotlight sometimes because of being seen with me or me following them on social media or something,” Norris said.
“I think that’s been the worst side of it: someone who is just quiet on their own and they’re seen with me at dinner or on a post on Instagram.
“There’s still a lot of nasty fans, a lot of fans which are just not nice and just use a lot of people and things like that.
“I’d say that’s been the worst thing about the popularity, is those kind of people. The people who don’t respect your personal life at all and the people you hang with and so on. That’s definitely the worst bit of it.”
“Weird” social media detectives
Norris is baffled by how some social media users assume the persona of self-proclaimed investigators, able to learn details about people they have never met.
“It’s very, very weird,” the Briton said. “Honestly, it’s very creepy what some people do. The time they spend trying to investigate things or people or whatever.
“I just laugh and find it very funny, but it’s very weird. It’s just odd.”
Norris is particularly irritated when those who are close to him are subjected to online harassment.
“It’s disrespectful, I feel, to someone who through no fault of their own, I guess because they’re my friend or something, gets abuse on social media because someone doesn’t like the top they wear and it’s because they’re friends with me… crap like that,” Norris explained.
“That’s the only thing I really hate about being in the position I’m in now.”
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