Despite the contentious Lap 10 incidents between them during the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix race, McLaren Racing’s Lando Norris insists that he still respects title rival Max Verstappen who he believes knows that “he did wrong” during their on-track battle.
During Sunday’s race at the Autódromo Hermando Rodríguez, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was heavily penalised after two Lap 10 incidents with Norris.
The first incident, in which Verstappen was judged to have forced Norris off the track at Turn 4, saw the Dutchman be handed the first of two 10-second time penalties and issued two penalty points on his FIA Super License. He was subsequently handed another 10-second time penalty after leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Norris at Turn 7.
These time penalties saw the Red Bull driver drop to the back of the pack after his pit stop, and though he would eventually make his way through the field, he could manage a P6 finish – four places behind Norris who finished P2 after overtaking Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the final stint of the race.
After the race, Norris criticised Verstappen’s actions on track, claiming that the Red Bull Driver “had got what he had coming to him” as he had not raced fairly or cleanly. Despite this, the Briton claimed that he still respected Verstappen but stated that he had not spoken with the Dutchman.
“We’ve not spoken, and I don’t think we need to. I’ve got nothing to say.
“I still have a lot of respect for Max and everything he does — not respect for what he did last weekend, but respect for him as a person, and also what he’s achieved.”
Norris expressed that he did not believe it to be his job to speak to Verstappen about the matter and claimed that “deep down” Verstappen “knows that he did wrong.” He stated that it was up to Verstappen to change his on-track behaviour as he was aware of “where the limits are.”
“But it’s not for me to speak to him. I’m not his teacher, I’m not his mentor or anything like that.
“Max knows what he has to do. He knows that he did wrong, deep down he does. And it’s for him to change, not for me.
“Max is probably one of the most capable drivers on the grid, if not the most. He knows what he can and can’t do and where the limits are. So, he knows the changes he has to make.”
Norris added that he would not change his approach to racing Verstappen, as he believed himself to be able to engage in clean racing during contentious moments on track.
He did, however, admit that he was guilty of lacking aggression at times, and while he acknowledged that he had sometimes “paid the price” for the lack of aggression, he had still reaped the benefits of racing within the regulations.
Norris explained: “I think something I’ve done well in my whole career is staying out of trouble and keep the car in one piece. All those little things add up over a championship and over a season, especially in a cost cap season as well.
“I’ve always had the mentality to want to race fair and clean. I think I probably said it last weekend, I’ve been maybe too kind, whether I was attacking or defending. But I think I’ve always made good decisions from that side.
“Sometimes I’ve paid the price for not being aggressive enough, but the rest of it is not up to me. Even when you don’t realise it, there are times when you have to avoid a potential crash and maybe you don’t see it on the TV.
“There are more times that people realise that you go through those certain scenarios. And I think those are some of the challenges we have every now and then.”
Despite the incidents between them, both in Mexico City and in Austin where Norris himself was controversially penalised after he was judged to have gained a lasting advantage over Verstappen after going off the track, the McLaren driver stated that he expected “clean, fair racing” during the São Paulo Grand Prix.
“But I’ll come into this weekend with a new expectation of hopefully having clean, fair racing.”
He added that he believed that the standard of “clean, fair racing” was what should be expected.
“And I think that’s what we should expect.”
