It’s no secret that Lando Norris loves wearing hats, especially bucket hats. While it has become a popular accessory for many F1 drivers, the McLaren driver has become the bucket hat icon on the current grid. So much so that Max Verstappen confirmed he sent all his bucket hats to Norris.
As seen in a video snippet on Twitter (now X), Verstappen answered a question about wearing bucket hats as he also loves to wear different caps. The Dutchman replied, “I sent all [bucket hats] of mine to Lando. He has a whole collection.”
Usually, Verstappen wears the trucker caps which are official Red Bull merchandise. On the other hand, Norris prefers to mix it up with his team caps and bucket hats, often sporting the latter during his grid walks and while strolling in the paddock.
One of the most famous instances of the Briton wearing a bucket hat came in Silverstone in 2022. Norris was giving an interview on the track in front of the Grandstands during the drivers’ parade, wearing a hat with a Union Jack design.
Suddenly, Lewis Hamilton gatecrashed his interview and stole his hat to try it on. This received a huge cheer from the crowd as the two British drivers had some fun before the Grand Prix got underway. Hamilton returned the hat to Norris and cited, “Looks good on you, mate”.
Such has been the craze for Norris wearing bucket hats, and as a result, he has started to get associated with it more often. The 24-year-old once revealed that besides him, even Valtteri Bottas has a liking for the same.
Lando Norris or Valtteri Bottas – Who is the original bucket hat king?
In Formula 1’s famous Grill the Grid feature, Lando Norris and his peers had to play a game of guessing which driver said particular quotes. When a quote about bucket hats – “We’re here for the **** bucket hat era”, many assumed it was the McLaren driver who said it.
However, Norris answered correctly that it was Valtteri Bottas. As per Planet F1, he stated, “I mean, I’d say I was probably the first, but Bottas. But I had the bucket hat years ago already, you know?”
Bottas started wearing bucket hats after moving to Sauber (then Alfa Romeo) in 2022. However, Norris claimed that he had been wearing bucket hats even before the Finn. While this could be an eternal debate, the #4 driver is the more popular driver to get associated with bucket hats and may remain so.