"Driving like a muppet" - Lando Norris' brutal verdict on his start against Max Verstappen at the F1 US GP

Lando Norris felt that if he hadn't been "driving like a muppet" at the start of the F1 US GP, then the late race battle with Max Verstappen would not have taken place. The race in Austin saw Norris secure a stunning pole position on Saturday. The driver started the race on the front row with Verstappen alongside him.

As it turned out, once again Verstappen bested him at the start of the race as he got the jump on the McLaren. The Red Bull driver had a slightly worse start off the line, but he lunged down the inside into turn one as Norris had left the door open.

While Verstappen held on to P2 coming out of that lunge, Lando Norris dropped from P1 to P4 in the first lap. As it turned out, this was pivotal in how the race panned out. The Red Bull didn't have the race pace that either Ferrari or McLaren had, and as a result, Max Verstappen was just playing a strategic game as he tried to hold on to track position.

In the second stint, with the two drivers battling for P3, it came down to Verstappen's nifty defense holding off Norris. The battle ended with the McLaren driver overtaking the Red Bull driver off-track and getting a 5-second penalty for it.

Talking to the media, including Sportskeeda, after the race, Norris felt the race would not have come to that moment had he driven better at the start of the race. He said,

"Turn one, I didn't do the correct thing but I feel like what happened at the end of the race was more on my side. Otherwise, it was a good battle, and I enjoyed it. We just didn't come out on top because I didn't do a good enough job."

He added,

"If I defended better in turn one and wasn't driving like a muppet, then I should have led after Turn 1, and we shouldn't have this conversation in the first place."

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Lando Norris reflects on the battle with Max Verstappen

The battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen ended when the British driver overtook the Dutch driver off-track and did not give the position back. The driver argued that he was ahead at the apex, but the stewards saw it differently. As a result, with a couple of laps left to the finish, Norris was given a 5-second penalty.

The McLaren driver crossed the line in P3 but lost the podium position to Max Verstappen after the penalty was applied. Talking about the battle with Verstappen and the race in general, he said,

"I think Max drove very well. It's very hard to do what we're doing, and it's hard when you're side by side, you're completely one side of the track to guess where your braking marker is."

He added,

"You're going quicker than you have before because you use the battery, the tyres are older, there's different bumps, there's a lot of dirt, we're battling and fighting hard... so I respect the battle that we had, it was a good one, it was enjoyable, I think it was respectful."

The McLaren driver is now 57 points behind the Red Bull driver, and with just 5 races left, this result hurt his chances of mounting an attack for the title.