It has been raining special helmet liveries at the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, with many including McLaren duo, Lando Norris, and Daniel Ricciardo bringing about some insane-looking ones to the paddock. And to top it all, Valtteri Bottas hit the home run; The Finn, quite unusually, affirmed not one but three designs for the entire weekend.

However, let’s stick to Norris for now! Recently, the Briton flaunted his NBA-inspired ‘Basketball’ themed helmet design for the weekend in Miami. And truth be told, Norris did manage to grab the attention of almost the entire F1 fandom with this particular helmet.

Hence, considering he eventually turned out to be the talk of the town, the pre-race weekend press conference had an interesting question lined up for the McLaren prodigy; The interviewer questioned Norris’ inspiration behind the ‘Basketball’ crash helmet.

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Well, although Norris’ reply to this particular question was rather generic, he managed to pull out a hilarious dig at the ‘bouncing’ Mercedes.

Lando Norris jokes about Mercedes’ porpoising issue

Asked about the thought process behind the Basketball-themed helmet, Norris replied with a chuckle, “It’s just a basketball.

“He was asking, ‘what’s the inspiration?’ I think it’s quite obvious. It’s just a basketball. So, I kind of knew everyone was gonna go for palm trees and boring stuff. I just wanted to do something very different. I mean, it’s not elegance and wow, but, it’s just simple and different to what a lot of people go for. It’s cool! The guys did a great job.

“Actually making it look like a basketball is not so simple, and it was textured like a basketball as well. So, it’s cool!”

Then arrived the unexpected attack on George Russell and his struggling Brackley outfit. “Maybe, it would’ve suited George more, considering they like bouncing a bit more. That could’ve been better,” he concluded. And as Norris took this hysterical jab at Russell, the latter had a wide smile on his face, probably masking the pain within.

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But, nonetheless, updates are coming in for Mercedes as they begin their experiments with the W13. So, the only question that remains is, can the Brackley outfit actually find a way through the poor 2022 stint this weekend? And in the meantime, can Norris clinch his second consecutive podium of the season? Well, we’ll know soon enough!