‘Not seen before’ – Lando Norris and Max Verstappen told to hold Silverstone talks

Although emotions are running high, Olav Mol has urged Lando Norris and Max Verstappen to resolve their dispute in private before it creates a “hostile situation” at Silverstone.

Norris and Verstappen’s relationship, and their cars, took a hit at Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix when the two collided while fighting for the lead.

‘Max Verstappen and Lando Norris both have a role to make it look peaceful’

Norris tried to overtake Verstappen around the outside of Turn 3 only for the Dutchman to move to the left to block the McLaren. They made contact, Norris retired and Verstappen, although slapped with a 10-second penalty for causing a collision, finished P5.

But while Norris spoke in the immediate aftermath about wanting Verstappen to admit blame, otherwise he’d lose a bit of “respect” for his friend, that seems unlikely as Verstappen sarcastically questioned the penalty.

He did, however, later tell the media including PlanetF1.com that he and Norris would “talk about it” when the time was right.

But with F1’s next stop the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, a venue where Verstappen has faced a hostile crowd in the wake of his 2021 title fight against Lewis Hamilton, Dutch pundit Mol has urged them to resolve their differences in private.

“Max and Lando both have a role or role model function to make it look peaceful to the public in England,” he told Ziggo Sport Race Café . “Otherwise, things can happen that we have not seen before in sports.

“Of course, that has to do with what we see everywhere these days, with opinions and social media, and that kind of idiocy.

“Then you can end up in a very hostile situation at Silverstone. If there is one place you don’t want to end up in a hostile situation, it’s England.”

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However, NOS’ Louis Dekker isn’t foreseeing a quick thaw in the relationship after Sunday’s “freezer”.

“You can shake hands, you can say things to each other, you can also completely ignore each other. The latter happened,” he said.

“There was a moment when Norris and Verstappen were a camera away from each other, maybe one and a half meters. It was stoic, it was a freezer that was between them. They didn’t speak to each other and they didn’t fly back together either.”

His fellow pundit Jan Lammers reckons there is a part of Verstappen that feels “sorry” for Norris that he didn’t score points in Austria.

“I think Verstappen was happy that he still finished fifth, but that as a friend he felt very sorry for Norris that he had zero points. He is struggling with that,” he said. “It is a shame that he is now being called what he is being called.”

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