McLaren boss compliments Lando Norris - “A lot of champions are sweethearts outside the race car, but fierce once the helmet goes on”

Zak Brown claimed that Lando Norris and Max Verstappen are fierce rivals on the track but get along extremely well off-track. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda ahead of the British GP, the McLaren CEO mentioned that the duo sorted the matter amicably off track.

Norris and Verstappen came into the British GP weekend after an on-track incident between the two in Austria. Despite the duo clearing the air and making press statements about the incident being a racing incident, several elements in the press felt the Briton was too soft and had made a U-turn from his previous statements suggesting he needed an apology from the Dutchman.

Responding to the suggestions of Norris being soft towards Verstappen, Brown felt that it was natural for the duo to sort matters off-track, given their close camaraderie. Channels like Sky Sports suggested that their friendship made them weak rivals on track and were severely critical of the Dutchman’s defensive driving.

After the duo seemingly resolved the issue, several pundits speculated about the Briton giving into his emotional connection with the triple champion. The McLaren CEO denied that the Briton had conceded any mental ground to the Red Bull champion.

Asked if Lando Norris was being too nice or soft by sorting it out with Verstappen, Brown replied:

“Very happy with Lando. I think there's a difference between what a racing driver's like when the helmet goes on and the visor goes down and what they're like Monday through Thursday and how they communicate and carry themselves and the relationships that they have. So I think if you look, a lot of world champions, sweethearts outside of the race car, but pretty fierce once the helmet goes on. And Lando's no different.”

Asked if Norris had conceded any psychological ground to the Dutchman, Brown said:

“No, I don't think so at all. I think show me a world champion, and I think ruthless and aggressive will be two good descriptions of any world champion or Grand Prix-winning driver. I think Lando wants to move on from last weekend. Some people, drivers might enjoy a public spat. I think they have a very strong relationship off the track. They spoke. What they spoke about, I think, is between them, but I think Lando and from what I saw from Max's comments, they both want to move on and get back to racing each other real hard on track.”

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Zak Brown claimed Max Verstappen's driving style cannot be blamed for the incident with Lando Norris

Zak Brown claimed that Max Verstappen was only exploring the loopholes in the regulations with his edgy maneuvers on track. He felt the Red Bull driver did not need to change his driving style; instead, the FIA and its stewards needed to enforce clearer and better regulations.

Brown also stated that Anthony Davidson’s analysis on Sky Sports which ruled the incident as a racing incident had the perfect explanation of the gray areas in the rules.

“I don't think it would be fair to characterize it as Max's driving. I think, as Toto mentioned, you see battles all throughout the field. And so I think we just need regulations that are black and white and enforced accordingly. So I don't think it would be fair to say Max's driving. I think all these drivers drive at the absolute limit as they should. But then you have a set of regulations. I think if you look at Anthony Davidson's review on Sky Sports, a driver, as he mentioned, who has driven the track himself and driven Formula 1 cars.”

“I thought he did a nice job of laying out what exactly was going on there. So I think it's not about cleaning up the drivers, it's about enforcing and having much clearer regulations on a consistent basis, whatever those may be. But I think these are the 20 best drivers in the world, so they can deal with about anything,” he added.

With Lando Norris qualifying third, he will again be alongside Verstappen on the second row of the grid. From their reported conversations on Thursday, the duo have seemingly reached an understanding on the rules of engagement with each other on track. But with both being fond of hard racing, contact in the future is inevitable.

The British GP could be the race where the McLaren driver has a good chance of reducing his Dutch counterpart's title lead by claiming a win. McLaren’s current battle is with both Mercedes and Red Bull but the team will focus largely on snatching the lead during the race. Norris is 81 points behind the Dutch champion in the title race and McLaren is 87 points behind Red Bull.