After roaring to pole position, and then celebrating his dominant victory in the Mexico City Grand Prix, Lando Norris was subject to loud booing from sections of the crowd.
This seemed puzzling as he had not been involved in any incidents during the race, does not have any beef with Sergio Perez, and had not been booed before in Mexico.
He even said that he "can't stop laughing" when he gets booed, but in the official post-race press conference, it became clear why the new world championship leader was handed such treatment by the fans.
Mexican journalist Carlos Jalife offered to give a little background on the circumstances, which go back to the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
"It seems that the Mexican people think - we did a poll - that you are being given the championship, and we asked: 'What should Lando do?'" Jalife began.
"They said: 'Return the three points', so that is the background of the booing, so would you be willing to return those three points?"
Bewildered, Norris, speaking directly to Jalife, enquired, "From where?"
Jalife then described the Monza race where McLaren decided to pit Oscar Piastri first to cover off Charles Leclerc behind, and then bring Norris in the lap after.
However, Norris's pit-stop was slow, meaning he fell behind Piastri on the road, with the two running two-three, worth 18 and 15 points, respectively.
Piastri was then requested to let Norris back through, and then he was free to race, and despite the Australian saying that he remembered a slow pit-stop being described as "a part of racing," he ceded the position.
That was a six-point swing in the championship, without which Piastri would currently be leading by five points instead of being one behind Norris.
After learning this from Jalife, Norris recalled the Hungary 2024 incident where a similar pit-stop sequence had unfolded and he undercut leader Piastri and gave up the win.
"Sure. If they want to think that, then they certainly have the right to, they can think whatever they want," he said.
"I guess from us as a team, of course, we try and do things fairly. That was the comment we made back then. It was the same two years ago in Budapest when I could have won the race and had to let Oscar back through and let him win a race he deserved to win.
"It was no different to that, really. It was an incorrect decision that we made as a team to box him first, or me first here.
"And, to be honest, if you want to have the three points, they can. But they have the right to think whatever they want. But Oscar deserved the win last year in Budapest, and I deserved to be ahead at Monza. It is as simple as that."
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