What Max Verstappen said about Lando Norris battle in US GP cooldown room

Lando Norris was on his “last strike” for track limits, said Max Verstappen, in their late US GP battle which saw Norris penalised.

The squabbling of polesitter Norris and Verstappen at the race start opened the door for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to take the lead, and with the Monegasque driver never looking back from there, while Carlos Sainz made it a Ferrari one-two, title rivals Verstappen and Norris were left to battle over the final podium position.

Max Verstappen said Lando Norris went beyond ‘last strike’

Norris had looks at Turns 12, 15 and 16, with Verstappen placing his RB20 expertly to keep the place, but come Lap 52, Norris snatched Verstappen’s spot on the podium away, or so he thought.

Going around the outside of Verstappen at Turn 12, both drivers went off the circuit, with Norris returning to the track ahead in P3. McLaren were confident that Norris was ahead at the apex, while Verstappen wanted the position back as the stewards went about investigating.

The decision was a five-second penalty for Norris for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, one which he could not negate as Verstappen reclaimed that final place on the podium at the line.

And as Verstappen headed to the cooldown room alongside the Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Sainz, it was Sainz who looked for some information from Verstappen on exactly what had gone down.

“We were just fighting,” Verstappen replied. “So he got me in [Turn] 12, outside the track limits, because we both went wide.

“And then I think that was his last strike with the track limits, so he got a five-second penalty.”

F1 2024 head-to-head battles after US GP

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As Sainz looked to clarify whether Norris “pulled away” from there, Verstappen continued: “Four seconds. Like 4.1. I was pushing flat out and I had traffic in the last lap, so it was quite difficult.

“We were not so fast today.”

Nonetheless, that result further stretched Verstappen’s Drivers’ Championship lead over Norris to 57 points with just five rounds of the F1 2024 campaign remaining.

Ferrari meanwhile has firmly joined the battle for the Constructors’ title after their one-two, closing their gap to Red Bull to just eight points, while to leaders McLaren it is only 48 as a three-way battle for the title brews.

Read next – US GP: Ferrari stun resurgent Red Bull amid Norris v Verstappen fireworks