George Russell emerged victorious at the 2024 Austrian GP, but the talk of the town remained the incident between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. The latter two took each other out while tussling for the lead in the closing stages, which ended Norris‘ race. The McLaren driver was furious and spoke about losing “respect” for his friend, who was standing right next to him when he presumably said that.
Norris attempted a move on the outside of Verstappen’s RB20 on lap 64 in Spielberg, but the Red Bull ace was having none of it. In an aggressive defensive maneuver, he made contact with Norris’ car, causing a puncture and in return, the Briton did the same to the RB20.
lando talking about losing respect to max if he doesn’t apologize while standing right next to him could be the funniest thing pic.twitter.com/T32YtYosfB
— clara (@leclercsletters) June 30, 2024
To add insult to injury for Norris, even a ten-second penalty to Verstappen didn’t particularly hamper his place in the Drivers’ Championship standings. He extended his lead over the McLaren driver by 10 points. During the post-race press conference, Norris admitted that he wanted Verstappen to apologize for his mistake. If he didn’t, their friendship would be affected.
However, when Norris spoke to the media, Verstappen was standing right next to him giving another interview. However, the 26-year-old had a much more diplomatic view of what happened between himself and Norris.
Max Verstappen’s view on Lando Norris incident
Verstappen was much more level-headed following his clash with Norris, presumably because it didn’t put a dent in his Championship winning hopes. While he does insist that he wasn’t at fault, he is ready to talk to Norris about what happened.
“I need to look back at how or why we touched,” he said to Sky Sports.
LAP 64/71
Amazing scenes!
Norris and Verstappen make contact at Turn 3
Both drivers have punctures after clashing… and George Russell has taken the lead!!! #F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/0GtTwPXd6N
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 30, 2024
Verstappen, unlike Norris, didn’t take a dig at his friend and instead labeled the entire incident as unfortunate. However, he had justifications for what led to to crash in the first place.
“I felt like sometimes he dive-bombed so late on the brakes. One time he went straight. One time I had to go around the sausage otherwise we would have touched.”
Norris and Verstappen have been great friends away from F1 for a long time. However, if they keep dueling like this in the coming races, there could be a repeat of the falling-out reminiscent of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
