Max Verstappen “predominantly at fault” for Lando Norris incident in Austria, says former F1 driver

Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok recently shared his take on the much-talked-about skirmish between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in Austria. The former F1 driver, through his social media post, indicated that it was the Red Bull driver who was "at fault."

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris have been in the news for the last couple of days, which is quite more than usual because of their on-track tussles at the Red Bull Ring. The tussles, which turned into a tangle between them, jeopardized their Austrian GP chances and handed George Russell a surprising victory.

Verstappen, with his late move on Norris, drew the wrath of multiple F1 experts, and Chandhok is the latest F1 personnel to weigh in on his views. The Sky Sports commentator brought up Norris and Verstappen's incident and compared it with Verstappen versus Sainz, and Sebastian Vettel versus Lewis Hamilton's wheel-to-wheel battle.

Chandhok wrote on X:

"Just looking back at the Austrian GP to prep for Silverstone. Clearly Max deviated his line under braking on the lap they touched and was predominantly at fault. The stewards were right to penalise him."

"The left kink into T3 and overtaking opportunity on exit means we've seen this move before. Lando will have to think about using those extra few inches when racing against Max in the future," Chandhok further added.

The incident ruined Norris' race altogether, as the British driver had to settle with a DNF. Verstappen, on the other hand, limped to the pit lane, got his tires changed, and finished the race in P5. All with a ten-second time penalty on his head for causing the collision.

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F1 journalist Peter Windsor did not criticize Max Verstappen on Austria GP controversy

Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 leads Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren MCL38 Mercedes during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on June 30, 2024 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

While the majority of the F1 world might hold Max Verstappen accountable for the incident, Peter Windsor did not want to go down that path. He not only supported the Red Bull driver for his race craft but also declined to put him under the scanner.

"I can't criticize what Max was doing in Austria, he was being a racing driver," Windsor said in an interview with Cameron F1 on YouTube. "And by the letter of the very stupid regulations he got that penalty and I suppose he got to accept that penalty." (0:44-0:55)

"But, I thought he was aggressive. What do we want? Drivers who just say 'after you, oh yes, you got the DRS, I'll pull over and change down my gears and make it even easier for you'. Is that what we want? Oh yeah, somebody's passing me, I gotta make sure I keep the car absolutely straight. That is pathetic. This is motor racing. This is Formula 1." (0:56-1:14)

Max Verstappen started the race from pole position and Lando Norris from P2. As the race started, the Dutch driver powered away from the rest of the pack and built up a healthy seven-second lead over his rivals. However, a slow pit stop in Lap 52 turned the race on its head.

As the two World Championship protagonists left the pit lane, they were separated by a few tenths. In a matter of a few seconds, Verstappen and Norris began jockeying for positions and ultimately, in Lap 64, they reached their boiling point and bumped into each other.