Lando Norris was accidentally struck in the face by a photographer while celebrating his Formula 1 British Grand Prix victory at Silverstone on Sunday.
The Brit kept his cool in chaotic, wet conditions and benefitted from an Oscar Piastri penalty and Max Verstappen spin to win his home race in front of his ecstatic fans.
The McLaren driver was jumping for joy afterward, having closed the gap to teammate and championship rival Piastri to just eight points at the halfway point of the season.
However, the celebrations were dampened after an unfortunate incident in the hours following the race.
After posing for photos with his team, Norris took his winners trophy and headed across the pit-lane to the main straight where thousands of his adoring fans were waiting to greet him.
But as he approached, a photographer standing on the pitwall slipped and fell backwards into the 25-year-old, clattering him in the face.
The photographer instantly apologised to Norris who held his hand to his face, clearly in some pain, before being led back to the McLaren garage by team personnel.
The moment was captured live on Sky Sports and has since gone viral on social media.
It was a bad end to an otherwise outstanding day for Norris, with this arguably the most important and most emotional win of his F1 career so far.
‘It means a huge amount. You know, at the end of the day, being on top in your home race is very, very special,’ he said in the post-race press conference.
‘And I said in some of the other interviews, you know, this is where it all started for me. I was watching on TV. I was watching, all those many years ago, Lewis [Hamilton], Jenson [Button], Fernando [Alonso].
I think it was that extremely wet race here, in 2008. That’s when I really started watching Formula 1. And I think Lewis won, and I got that picture of him going around and seeing all the fans standing up, and that picture of what an atmosphere in Silverstone is like, and dreamed of that for many, many years.
‘And today I got to live that feeling myself and see it through my own eyes. So pretty amazing, pretty special.
‘A lot of people, from my friends and family, my brother, my sisters, my mom, my dad, my dad’s parents. Every person that I could have here is here. So, yeah, more special than ever, 100%. And, yeah, tough race to do it in as well.’
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