When Canadian singer Tate McRae posted a video on social media of herself in a small No. 4 McLaren go-kart saying "F1 hit me up" this past autumn before her "2 hands" music video was released, the internet did what it does best, and all of a sudden, McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris was supposedly "rumored" to be in the video.
Norris played into the rumor, commenting "Good taste in cars" after the official Formula 1 account commented "this MIGHT be Lando Norris." She replied to Norris, saying "Well thank you".
All that did was accelerate the rumors, the point where fans were assuming that one of the completely disguised individuals in the video just had to be Norris.
The motorsport-themed video does indeed feature a papaya McLaren 750S. However, it does not feature the real-life driver of McLaren's No. 4 Formula 1 car.
As one fan pointed out, if Norris were going to make a cameo, it wouldn't have been a secret, much less after the fact.
Here is the video in which Lando Norris does not actually appear.
Given FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem's position on swearing, which literally involves the possibility of a driver losing a world championship due to use of bad language, it's probably best Norris didn't take part here.
Even by association with some of the lyrics, he'd probably be starting the 2025 season with negative-50 points or something. It's a total free-for-all anymore when it comes to the FIA's policing of drivers, so that's probably not a far-fetched guess.
But I digress.
Norris, who has never actually met the singer, admitted he enjoyed playing into the rumor and was entertained by how it escalated so quickly, even with absolutely no backing whatsoever, a testament to how things can spiral out of control on social media.
Lando Norris talks having a “bit of fun” with fans on social media with his comment on singer Tate McRae video ahead of her #2hands music video dropping pic.twitter.com/dz9OqjU74s
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) November 23, 2024
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