After criticism on social media, the McLaren went public to explain that a visit by the former American president donald trump to the team’s pits in Miami GP in Formula 1 does not represent a form of support for the politician’s campaign, who is running for president again this year against Joe Biden.
Amid the campaign for this year’s November election, Trump, who is also facing legal problems with the New York courts, made a controversial appearance in the Miami paddock on Sunday, having been seen in conversations with important names in the sport.
The former president also published photos in the McLaren pits and in conversations with the CEO Zach Brown, while several fans in the stands sang chants of support. But Trump’s controversial nature also raised debate over why F1 and McLaren had given him an international media platform, with the British team explaining that the decision was not politically motivated.
In a statement, the team said: “McLaren is a non-political organization. However, we recognize and respect the Office of the President of the United States. So when the request was made for a visit to our garage on race day, we accepted the request together with the President of the FIA and the CEOs of Liberty Media and F1.”
“We were honored that McLaren Racing was chosen as the F1 representative, which gave us the opportunity to showcase the cutting-edge engineering we bring to motorsport.”
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 1st position, is congratulated by Donald Trump
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Trump’s visit to McLaren coincided with the team’s first victory since the 2021 Italian GP, also marking the team’s first triumph. Lando Norris. Speaking after the race, the Brit said the former president had congratulated him – calling him his “lucky charm”.
Speaking about having Trump in the pits, Norris said: “I didn’t see him there, to be honest. I was busy getting ready for the race. But he saw me afterwards and came over to congratulate me. So I would say it’s an honor, because when you have a person like that, it must be an honor, because they take time out of their lives to show respect for what you did.”
“He joked that it was my lucky charm for winning. So I don’t know if he’ll come to more races now. But yes, there are a lot of special or cool people who were here this weekend. Donald is a person you have to respect in a lot of ways. forms”.
“And yeah, for anyone who recognizes what you can do, recognizes your work ethic, I’m grateful for that. So it was a cool moment.”
