“He ruined his own race, not my fault”: Lando Norris points fingers towards Max Verstappen after Austrian GP collision

McLaren driver Lando Norris was livid with Red Bull driver Max Verstappen after the two collided while battling for the race lead at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday. The British driver claimed that the three-time world champion had not only ruined the race for him but also his own as he caused the collision.

The two drivers were battling for the lead of the race in the final phase after the Dutch driver had a slow final pitstop and came out on the used medium tires as compared to Norris's fresh mediums.

The British driver made several attempts to get past the slow Red Bull driver but to no avail and even got penalized for track limits after his incessant divebombs. Speaking to the media, Lando Norris analyzed the incident on Turn 3 between him and Verstappen and said (via Guardian):

“I am disappointed, nothing more than that. It was a good race. I was looking forward to a strong, fair battle but I wouldn’t say that it was in the end. I did a mistake-free race but I was taken out."

“You are not allowed to react, he did it three times out of three, two times I avoided it. The third time he ran into me. He ruined his own race, as much as he ruined mine. It was not my own fault. I just need to keep doing what I did today which was good enough for the win."

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Max Verstappen gives his take on his incident with Lando Norris.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen stated that he didn't believe that he did anything wrong in his battle with Lando Norris and was adamant that he did not move under braking before the collision.

Speaking with Sky Sports, the 26-year-old said:

"Of course from the outside, it's hard to see when I brake. I know in the past it was a bit of a complaint. Now I always move my wheel before I brake then, and you brake in a straight-line trajectory."

"It's always easy to say on the outside that I'm moving under the braking. But I think the guy in the car knows best what he's doing," Verstappen added.

However, the three-time world champion accepted that he needed to watch the incident again and review it before speaking with Norris about it. Despite the collision, the Dutch driver managed to finish in P5 with a 10-second penalty, while Lando Norris had to retire the car from the damage.