Following the Austrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen and Jos Verstappen were seen discussing behind Red Bull’s garage when Lando Norris passed by, heading towards the media pen. The British driver walked straight past the duo, his face a picture of discontent.
It was clear: Norris was not amused, as he later verbally expressed his displeasure towards his friend and colleague Max Verstappen. A cooling-off period might be necessary. “We will obviously talk about it. But not now, this is not the right time,” says the three-time world champion. “Lando is irritated, but so am I. It’s better that we cool down first.”
Verstappen’s Perspective
According to Verstappen, there was initially no issue. He quickly opened a seven-second gap to Norris. “The first stint went very well.” But in his view, things went wrong at the first pit stop. “I complained about the tires, nothing happened. Then I got stuck in traffic, the car also became increasingly difficult to control. Everything went wrong: whatever we could do wrong, went wrong. Then you just give away six seconds and it’s a race again, you get into a position where an accident can happen.”
Verstappen’s Perspective on the Incident
Verstappen eventually admits, “I didn’t move under braking, it may seem like that from the outside. But I know what to do in such scenarios. When you have such an intense fight, these things can sometimes happen. It is what it is, it’s never nice when something like this happens. We should have won this race if we hadn’t made so many mistakes.”
Penalty and Penalty Points
After the race, the race direction points to Verstappen as the culprit for the crash with Norris. This results in a ten-second time penalty and two penalty points for him. “A bit exaggerated,” finds Red Bull’s advisor Helmut Marko, who leaves the blame for the crash undecided. “But in general, I saw a bit more aggression from Lando,” he says. “Lando wanted to win and if you have the chance to do so, you go for it. But nobody wants such an end to a fight.”
According to Marko, the team told Verstappen over the radio that Norris might get a penalty for repeatedly exceeding track limits and advised him to possibly take it a bit easier in the duel with the Brit. “We said: take it easy. But that’s not in Verstappen’s DNA,” Marko realizes. “We have extended our lead in the world championship and that of the constructors. We’ll take that as positive points from this race.”
