Lando Norris failed to see the chequered flag at the 2024 Austrian GP after a late collision with Max Verstappen in turn three, which resulted in severe damage to the McLaren and relegated him to not finishing a race that he was so close to taking the lead.
After a difficult first couple of stints in which Norris saw Verstappen drive away at the front and maintain a gap of over seven seconds to the Briton, a slow final pit stop for the Dutchman brought the McLaren right into the mix. The pair duelled hard for several laps in most of the DRS zones around the Red Bull Ring, but things got especially heated on lap 63, when a lunge from Norris saw Verstappen go off track to maintain his lead.
And as the pair headed up to turn three again on the next lap, the reigning world champion defended the inside and squeezed Norris to the edge of the circuit, but contact was made and both drivers suffered a puncture as a result. Verstappen was able to rejoin the race in P5 with a 10-second time penalty, but the British driver was unable to continue due to severe damage to his floor and suspension after his tyre shredded to pieces.
Speaking after the race, Norris didn’t hold back in calling Verstappen’s defensive moves “desperate” and “reckless” coming from someone as experienced as the three-time champion, and believes there wasn’t the expected mutual respect during their battle:
“There’s rules for what you’re not allowed to do and you’re allowed to do,” said Norris. “He was doing things you’re not allowed to do and not getting penalised. I expect a tough battle against Max [Verstappen]. I know what to expect. I expect aggression and pushing the limits and that kind of thing.
“All three times he’s doing stuff which can easily cause an incident. And in a way just a bit reckless – he seemed like a little bit desperate from his side.
“Doesn’t need to be, he’s got plenty of wins. But a bit desperate to do what he could to not let me pass and I know it’s going to be aggressive.
“So like I’m in a way not surprised, but I just expected a tough, fair, respectful on the edge bit of racing and I don’t feel like that’s what I got him into.”
The McLaren driver said he won’t change his approach to racing Verstappen going forward, but made his frustrations very clear with the fact that not only his race, but his car also got “destroyed” in their clash, which will have repercussions going forward due to the nature of the budget cap restrictions teams are working with:
“I don’t think I need to change anything I’m doing. I mean, I was on the edge of the track, I didn’t know what else I’m going to do,” he explained. “He’s always been a bit like that. I respect Max a lot and what he can do and what he goes out and does every time he’s on track, but there’s times when I think he goes maybe a little bit too far.
“And I feel like today is a little bit of that. It’s one incident and at the same time, I know these things happen. [But] I’m disappointed. He ruined my race, destroyed my car. These are the best bits on the car [now] for the bin.
“We don’t have a lot of space in the battle that we’re in, in terms of upgrades and budget cap and things like that.
“My whole car is destroyed and these are all the bits that we need for next week.“It’s not just a repercussion of what happens on the track, it’s everything that we have to carry in Silverstone and be disadvantaged by. I just expected a bit more from him.”
