The last Formula 1 weekend in Austria was overshadowed by the dramatic duel between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. The world champion and the McLaren driver collided while battling for victory and exchanged heated words not only after the collision, but also during the preceding duel. Norris in particular lashed out and demanded an apology from Verstappen.
In the days following the race, tempers cooled down a bit and the Briton backed out before his home race in Silverstone. “I don’t think he had to apologize,” Norris clarified, and instead offered some self-criticism: “I think I only said certain things after the race because I was frustrated at the time. A lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotions and I probably said a few things that I don’t really believe.”
Lando Norris reached a new conclusion: Borderline, but good racing
The World Championship runner-up made it clear that he now sees the whole situation in a completely different light: “After looking at it again, I think it was good racing, even if it was borderline at times.” According to him, the collision took an unfortunate turn, as the actual contact was relatively minor.
In the meantime, the two friends have talked it out and put the accident behind them. On Monday, the two leaders of the Formula 1 World Championship 2024 will be together again for the first time since the accident and again on Wednesday. “We’ve talked about it and are looking forward to racing again,” said Norris. This means that if in doubt, they will race in the same way as in Spielberg, even if the McLaren driver announced that he would have to adapt his duel style slightly.
How could Lando Norris have avoided the accident?
But only minimally. “I have to do some things a little bit differently, but at the end of the day I don’t think it will change too much. I don’t think I would have to change a lot either,” said Norris. In his opinion, the accident could have been avoided if he had avoided the kerb a little more.
What Norris still disagrees with, however, is the way the stewards judged the duel on the final laps of the Formula 1 race in Spielberg. The 24-year-old is particularly annoyed about a 5-second penalty he received in Austria for a series of track limit violations. His last violation resulted from a braking error in a duel with Verstappen, in which he then let the defending champion pass again.
Lando Norris complains about ‘stupid’ punishment: That makes no sense
“The [diese Strafe, d.Red] “It’s pretty stupid, to be honest. I tried to overtake, I braked too hard and went off the track. I then had to avoid the sausage kerb and gave the position back to Max,” he explained the incident. “I probably lost a second and a half doing that.”
He called for a slightly less restrictive approach, as otherwise the battle on the track itself would be in danger. “These things will prevent drivers from racing against each other. If you don’t want us to race and you don’t want people to try to overtake, then you want a boring race. In this case, you can handle the rules like this,” he said, annoyed at the race management and the stewards. What bothers Norris most is the wording of the violation. It actually refers to incidents in which someone goes off the track and gains an advantage as a result.
In his opinion, no advantage was gained in Spielberg. “It’s about gaining an advantage and that’s the most important thing,” emphasised Norris. “But the fact that I received a penalty for that, especially in a one-on-one situation after I lost more time because of it, just doesn’t make sense,” complained the 115-time Grand Prix starter, adding: “I hope they change that quickly. Because I think it’s pretty stupid.”