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Andrea Stella criticized Max Verstappen's action at the recently concluded Austrian Grand Prix. Stella, the McLaren boss, claimed that a 'lack of punishment' for Verstappen from his battles against Hamilton in 2021 contributed to a collision between Verstappen and Lando Norris in Spielberg.
Formula 1 was in Austria for the 11th race of the season. George Russell claimed a surprising victory while Verstappen came home in P5 and Norris had to abort his race. The Red Bull driver started the race from pole position, ahead of his McLaren counterpart at P2. The Dutch driver cruised most of the race until a slow pit stop reduced the gap between him and Norris.
Verstappen and Norris came out of the pit lane in Lap 52 with less than a second separating the two. Eyeing the race lead, Norris used the DRS and slipstream to overtake Verstappen but to no avail. After countless tries, the Briton tried to go around the outside but the Dutchman slammed the door on him.
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This led to a collision between the two drivers in Lap 64 and punctured their tires. In the end, Verstappen and Norris crawled back to the pit lane for fresher tires. However, the McLaren driver did not leave the pit stop and had to suffer a DNF.
Stella, criticizing Verstappen's move, said to the media (via Motorsport):
"But the problem behind it is that if you don’t address these things honestly, they will come back. They have come back today because they were not addressed properly in the past when there was some fights with Lewis that needed to be punished in a harsher way."
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris had terminal back-to-back wheel bangs for the first time this season. This seemingly reminded Stella of the 2021 season, where the three-time world champion went head-to-head against Lewis Hamilton.
The 2021 F1 season saw regular on-track tussles between Hamilton and Verstappen as they suffered multiple DNFs. An incident at Monza took both drivers out. Max Verstappen received plenty of stewards' warnings throughout the 2021 season, which Stella now believes were not 'harsh enough.'
Lando Norris draws a line on his friendship with Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris are known to be great friends. At times, the Dutchman refers to him as his best friend on the paddock. However, the recently concluded race at Red Bull Ring put their friendship under the litmus test.
Following their on-track collision, Norris was asked if the friendship between him and Verstappen had been affected. To this, he stated to the media (via Sky Sports Italy):
"He ruined my race, it wasn't my fault, he made a stupid move. Our friendship? If he doesn't admit the mistake he will lose a lot of my respect, if instead he says he was unfair then we will remain friends. I was fair, he wasn't."
