– Günther Steiner considers Lando Norris’ Coca-Cola moment after the Spanish Grand Prix unprofessional. The former Haas team principal criticizes the McLaren driver for drinking a Coca-Cola in the cooldown room after the race. The background is PepsiCo’s partnership with Formula 1.
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In The Red Flags Podcast, Steiner uses strong words about Norris’ behavior: “If you are a professional, you don’t do something like that. Period. You know what you can and cannot do. You are trained accordingly. He shouldn’t have done it.”
At the same time, the former Haas team principal downplays the significance of the incident. He does not see any serious damage. “Is it bad that he did it? Does it hurt anyone? No. But as a professional, you shouldn’t do something like that. But he did it. And you know what? I don’t give a damn.”
Norris drinks Coca-Cola instead of Pepsi
The trigger for Steiner’s criticism was a scene after the Spanish Grand Prix. Norris had finished the race at the Madrid Circuit in third place and then drank a can of Coca-Cola in the cooldown room.
Since cola competitor PepsiCo is an official partner of Formula 1, Norris was asked by an official to put the drink down. However, the McLaren driver was not impressed and replied: “I just drove a race, so I can drink whatever I want. Thank you.”
The scene quickly spread on social media afterwards. Numerous fans stood behind Norris. Steiner, on the other hand, refers to the rules and obligations associated with the respective partnerships.
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“Everything runs by categories. They sell the product and obviously the rule is: If you don’t pay for it, you can’t have it. And he had a Coke. It wasn’t particularly smart to do that,” says the South Tyrolean.
Steiner sees advantage for Coca-Cola
Despite his criticism, Steiner believes that Coca-Cola ultimately benefited from the incident. The discussion brought the brand much more into focus.
“As I said, I don’t care, because for Coca-Cola it paid off pretty well now. It was pretty good for them. If they hadn’t said anything, probably no one would have noticed. But because the matter was blown up so much, it is now a topic, and Coca-Cola is laughing to itself.”
From Steiner’s point of view, the incident would probably have received little attention without the official’s request. It was only the demand to put down the Coca-Cola that turned the actually minor moment into an issue.
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Sportingly, Norris had to settle for third place at the Spanish Grand Prix. The McLaren driver started from pole and initially took the lead. However, an unfortunately timed Virtual Safety Car cost him the top position. In the World Championship, he is 106 points behind Kimi Antonelli in fourth place.
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