F1 Academy champ calls out Max Verstappen's home fans for "insulting" Lando Norris after Dutch GP DNF

Reigning F1 Academy champ Abbi Pulling has highlighted how 'insulting' the behavior of Max Verstappen's home fans at the Dutch GP was towards Lando Norris. The 22-year-old was referring to the fans at Zandvoort celebrating after the McLaren driver's DNF.

Norris had a mechanical issue on his MCL39 on lap 65 of 72, with smoke coming out of its rear end. The Briton, who was running in P2 behind teammate Oscar Piastri, had to pull over to the side of the track. Max Verstappen, who was in P3, overtook his McLaren rival, bringing the fans in the grandstands near Turn 9 to their feet.

Abbi Pulling, who won the 2024 F1 Academy championship before moving to Formula E as a rookie and simulator driver for Nissan in 2025, spoke frankly about the Dutch crowd's reaction on the BBC F1: Chequered Flag podcast.

"I mean, it was almost a bit insulting to Norris when he had his mechanical issue and pulled off. We could see the grandstands. They had their arms in the air, and they were absolutely, absolutely jumping for joy when McLaren pulled off," Pulling said. [14:46 onwards]

Lando Norris' DNF was a huge bummer for the 25-year-old, whose gap to teammate Oscar Piastri increased from 9 points to 34 points in the F1 drivers' championship standings. It was his second DNF of the year, which helped home hero Max Verstappen secure P2 and rewarded rookie Isack Hadjar with his first F1 podium.

The Briton's first DNF of the season had come at the Canadian GP, where he crashed into Piastri. While the latter continued with his race, Norris' MCL39 was damaged. Abbi Pulling had then highlighted the "desperation" in her compatriot's "clumsy" move.

Max Verstappen's advice to Lando Norris for title fight against Oscar Piastri after costly DNF at the Dutch GP

Max Verstappen with Lando Norris at the F1 Dutch Grand Prix - Qualifying - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen sent some words of wisdom to Lando Norris after the McLaren driver's DNF dented his pursuit of the 2025 F1 driver's title against Oscar Piastri. The Red Bull driver, who has faced similar setbacks during his cut-throat 2021 title fight against Lewis Hamilton, stressed the importance of focusing on the controllable.

In the post-race press conference at Zandvoort, he shared his method for recovering from such setbacks.

"I mean, it’s out of your control," Verstappen said (via fia.com). "So, you just need to keep working hard, keep trying to win. As simple as that. Especially when you are teammates, you have the same car, same opportunities. It’s probably a little more complicated than when it’s two different teams, but still a lot of races, and you can see things can swing.

Like Oscar said, you don’t know if you get a mechanical failure or not; it’s out of your control. So yes, it’s not ideal, but there are enough races to either turn it around or not, and time will tell," the Dutchman concluded.

Max Verstappen is nearly out of the 2025 title battle. He sits in third place in the standings with 205 points, which is 104 points fewer than leader Piastri (309), and 70 fewer than Norris (275). The next race weekend is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza from September 5 to 7.