“We enjoyed our battle”: Max Verstappen clears the air surrounding his contact with Lando Norris in Austria

Max Verstappen believes that the incident with Lando Norris in Austria has been sorted out off-track. Speaking to the media including Sportskeeda ahead of the 2024 British GP, the Dutchman said that his friendship with the British driver mattered more to him than everything else.

After the duo clashed on track during the Austrian GP, Norris had told the media in the pen that he expected an apology from Verstappen. The Briton then spoke in the FIA Thursday press conference regretting some of the reaction to the incident in the heat of the moment. The Dutchman had refrained from fanning any flames in the public domain and had said he would sort it out with the McLaren driver. Given the camaraderie shared by the duo, there was a lot of chaos in the public domain over the incident. Most drivers felt it was a racing incident that was blown out of proportion.

Andrea Stella compared it to the incidents with Lewis Hamilton in 2021 and felt that it was a result of past instances going unpunished. With the current generation of drivers, there has been a fine line between hard racing and questionable maneuvers. However, Verstappen was the subject of much public banter after the incident. He did not want to compare the tensions between Norris and Hamilton but reckoned his friendship with the former was important. The triple World champion explained that the duo discussed it immediately on the day following the incident and concluded that it was just a moment of hard racing.

Asked by Sportskeeda if being friends with Norris made it easier to diffuse the tension as compared to past instances with Hamilton, Verstappen replied:

“I am not going to compare drivers because that doesn’t make sense anyway. But for me the only thing that I cared about is of course maintaining my relationship with Lando. Because we are great friends and that for me after the race, I said we have to just let things cool down because emotions run high. We immediately spoke on Monday and I think we came to the conclusion that we actually really enjoyed our battle.”

“But we were both... of course we looked at the incident, with such a silly little touch, that had of course great consequences for both of us. And of course naturally a bit more for Lando with how the puncture then evolved, but we like to race hard. We've done this for many years, not only in Formula 1, even like online racing where we had a lot of fun together and you know these things have to... they have to carry on. Because that's what we like to do and I think it's great for Formula 1 as well.”

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Max Verstappen reckons Lando Norris agreed with him when they discussed the Austrian GP incident

Max Verstappen claimed Lando Norris agreed with his explanation of the incident that unfolded during the Austrian GP. He expected the reaction to the incident but was able to assure the Briton and earned his trust in the conversation after. The triple world champion suggested that both agreed with each other's opinion and understood that neither intended to crash into each other. In terms of his maneuver, he felt that sometimes the rulebook had gray areas that drivers played with while racing each other.

Asked whether there were any agreements made during the conversation about the incident, Verstappen said:

“Well, we agreed with 99 % of everything, so you know, that's, I think, a lot already. And, naturally, I said to Lando like when you go for moves on the inside, the outside like you can trust me. That, you know, I'm not there to try and, you know, crash you out of the way, same the other way around. Because we spoke about that as well, because naturally there's always a human reaction when someone dives on the inside or outside that you have a bit of a reaction to it.”

“But I felt everything that I did was nothing massively over the top. Of course like how you design a car, you try to go to the edge of the rules, maybe you find some gray areas here and there as a car, you know, and that's the same how you race, because otherwise you will never be a top driver and you will never succeed in life anyway.”

Asked if It was fair to say that he expected contact in the scenario that unfolded, Verstappen replied:

“No, of course I never wanted to crash with someone. I expected to touch.”

With a British driver at the receiving end of the clash with Verstappen, it was natural for the narrative to evolve similarly as with Hamilton in 2021. However, both Norris and the Red Bull driver were quick to diffuse the tensions and resolve the matter after the race. The subject dominated the media on Thursday ahead of the British GP, and there was an effort made to persuade the duo into answering questions regarding the incident from every possible angle. The duo have always had good camaraderie and were expected to sort the issue out after the race.