'Clown for a reason': Internet slams Trump as he claims credit for Lando Norris' Miami Grand Prix victory

MIAMI, FLORIDA: Donald Trump arrived at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday, May 5, to catch the Miami Grand Prix as his high-profile hush money trial continues.

Ahead of the day's race, the Palm Beach resident was spotted at the McLaren team garage, where he checked out Lando Norris' car and chatted with the staff. 

Interestingly, Trump later took to social media to claim credit for Norris' Sunday victory, leading to online outrage. 

Lando Norris says his meeting with Donald Trump was a 'cool moment'

The crowd chanted, "USA" as Trump, accompanied by his secret service security team, arrived at the McLaren garage to meet CEO Zak Brown. He also met with FIA President Mohammed ben Sulayem and F1 Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali.

On Instagram, Trump posted a picture of him meeting Norris with the caption, "t was a great honor to see my friends at McLaren win the big Miami Formula 1 race. It was the car I visited before the race, and Endorsed—that’s what we need for our Country—WINNING!"

Talking about his interaction with Trump, Norris, who clinched his breakthrough victory on Sunday by defeating Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen, told Daily Mail, "He saw me after and he came up to congratulate me so I guess it's an honor."

The 24-year-old continued, "Whenever you have someone like this come up to you to take time out of their life to pay their respect for what you've done ... it has to be an honor."

Norris described the meeting as a "cool moment," revealing the current Republican Party frontrunner said he was "a lucky charm." He added sarcastically, "I don't know if he's going to come to more races now."  

"But there's a lot of special, cool people that have been here this weekend. Donald is someone that you've got to have a lot of respect for in many ways and for anyone like that who acknowledge what you can go out and do, and the work ethic that goes into things, you've got to be thankful for that," further mentioned the Formula 1 driver. 

After being questioned about Trump's presence at the team garage, McLaren issued a statement, saying, "McLaren is a non-political organization however we recognize and respect the office of President of the United States so when the request was made to visit our garage on race day we accepted alongside the president of the FIA and the CEO’s of Liberty Media and Formula 1."

Donald Trump's hush money trial enters week four

The fourth week of Trump's criminal trial at Manhattan Supreme Court has begun. The ex-POTUS faces 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to conceal a payment made to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election to silence her about an alleged affair. 

With the commencement of the hush money trial, which is expected to last for another three to five weeks, Trump became the first-ever former US president to be tried on criminal charges.  

Internet trolls Donald Trump as he takes credit for Lando Norris' win

An Instagram user wrote, "This is why Biden has to clean your f***ing mess," and another said, "Now he is going to ruin F1." 

"So instead of visiting and rooting for the only American team in F1, Haas, or visiting with the only American driver in F1, Logan Sargeant, he supports a team out of the UK. Where's the America First in that?" pointed out a person. 

Someone else slammed the ex-POTUS, writing, "Desperate Trump tries to steal this kid's first F1 victory. Pathetic!" "Clown for a reason," declared one more.

An individual questioned, "How does one 'endorse' a F1 driver?"

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.