Max Verstappen insists nothing he did in his incident with Lando Norris in Austria was “over the top” with tensions between the two drivers having cooled.
Verstappen and Norris collided on lap 64 of the 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix while vying for the lead last Sunday. Both sustained punctures, with Verstappen finishing fifth and Norris forced to retire.
The pair are close friends off-track yet Norris was fuming at Verstappen for “ruining his race” afterward, insisting the three-time world champion “moved under braking” more than once.
However, ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Verstappen revealed the duo talked it out a day later and emphasised that he does value his relationship with the British driver.
“We immediately spoke on Monday and we came to the conclusion that we enjoyed our battle, it was such a silly, little touch that had great consequences for us,” Verstappen said.
“We like to race hard, we’ve done this for many years – not just in F1 but online racing too. I never want to crash with someone. Everyone can have an opinion but I only look at my relationship with Lando.
“We agree on 99% of everything. Naturally, there’s always a human reaction when someone dives down the inside or outside, you have a reaction to it. I felt everything I did was nothing massively over the top.
“It’s like when you design a car, you go to the edge of the rules. You find some grey area and that’s how you race, because otherwise you will never be a top driver and succeed in life.”
Asked if he believed he’s faced some undeserved criticism in the days that have followed, Verstappen replied firmly: “I don’t give a s*** about that. I go home and live my life. The only thing I cared about was my relationship with Lando.”
Verstappen received a 10-second time penalty for the collision while Norris was handed a five-second penalty after being forced to leave the track during the incident. He was penalised for going over his allocated number of track-limit violations.
Some drivers have queried whether the racing regulations need to be adapted after the incident, but Verstappen doesn’t concur.
“I think we have already way too many rules for everything,” he said. “That will only make it more complicated.”
And finally asked ahead of Norris’ home race this Sunday what the pair concluded about racing in the future, Verstappen replied: “We go at it flat out! That’s what we agreed. It’s what we like to do and it’s good for Formula 1.”
Verstappen has an 81-point lead to Norris in the drivers’ championship heading into round 12.
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