One of the main characters of the episode which determined the outcome of the Austrian GP discussed what happened, and how did it impact his relationship with his friend. Three-time World Champion Max Verstappen had contact with Lando Norris with 8 laps to go as they fought for the lead following 10 laps of fighting.
A puncture for both saw Norris retire, with Verstappen finishing 5th.
In the heat of the moment, the McLaren driver had called out Verstappen’s driving, adding that the Red Bull driver and his friend was “reckless, stupid and desperate”, but the Brit has since cooled down.
Verstappen talked ahead of the British GP in his written media session, mentioning that at the end of the day what’s important the most to him has to preserve the long standing bond he has with Lando Norris.
“Well, I don’t give a s*** about that. Literally, I go home, I live my life, and like I said, the only thing that I cared about is just my relationship to Lando.
“I’m not going to compare drivers, because that doesn’t make any 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 we have to just let things cool down because emotions run high.”
The championship leader by 81 points recalled how they spoke up on Monday, mentioning how both enjoyed their on the limit battle before the contact.
“We immediately spoke on Monday, and I think we came to the conclusion that we actually really enjoyed our battle. We looked at the incident, which was such a silly little touch that had great consequences for both of us, and of course, 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 online racing, where we had a lot of fun together. And these things have to carry on, because that’s what we like to do, and I think it’s great for Formula 1 as well.
“I just said that we have let things cool off a bit. I mean, we’ll look at the footage, and that’s what I did with Lando, and that’s the only one that I care about, because whatever anyone else said, that’s not for me.
“Everyone can have an opinion, but I only look at the relationship of things and my relationship with Lando in that case.
Asked if in his opinion the contact will also be discussed in the drivers’ meeting, the Dutch driver was doubtful.
The 61-time Grand Prix winner does not want to bring it up himself, believing driving standards in other races have been worse. He did naturally disagree with his 10-second penalty, however.
”I don’t know. Many people don’t want to be in the driver’s meeting for too long. Most of the time, you think that it’s going to be a long meeting, and most of the time it’s not.
”No, I don’t need to bring it up, because even if you get a penalty for these kind of things, there have been way worse things happening on the braking or leaving space to another car in the past.
“Naturally, of course, I don’t agree with the 10-second penalty. But again, for me, the only thing that was very important coming out of that weekend was just my relationship with Lando.”
Verstappen mentioned that they pretty much agreed on everything on what happened on Sunday, with the Dutchman stating they want to have clean racing as they’re expected to battle quite often in the races ahead.
“We agree with 99% of everything, so that’s a lot already. Naturally, I always said to Lando, when you go for moves up the inside, the outside, you can trust me that I’m not there to try and crash you out of the way. Same the other way around, because we spoke about that as well.
“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 grey areas here and there as a car, 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.”
The three-time World Champion also opened up on how important it is for him to maintain his close relationship with the Brit.
Verstappen can also understand why the emotions were so high for the McLaren driver last Sunday. The Dutch driver has 61 career wins in the bank, with Norris only on 1 at present.
“With some, of course, you have a closer relationship than others. I get on really well with Lando, and that’s why, for me also, we are fighting naturally for wins this year.
“And I, of course, don’t want that to ruin the friendship off-track as well, because that’s definitely not what it deserves.
“And I know, of course, that Lando is a great guy. He’s a really nice person who loves Formula 1, of course, he loves racing, and he’s just very passionate about it, naturally, also after the race.
“You also have to probably realise that he’s fighting for his second potential win, I’m fighting for my 62nd win. Naturally your emotions are a little bit different, because I know that from myself when I was fighting for these first wins in F1.
“But that’s fine, that’s why I also said let’s just let it cool off a bit and we’ll talk tomorrow,” he concluded.
