Something has happened again: Max Verstappen and Lando Norris crashed in the battle for victory in Spielberg. “The whole world knows who is responsible,” says Andrea Stella and his protégé, and the question of guilt is clear. Outside of McLaren, opinions are divided. Even for motorsport expert Christian Danner, Max Verstappen is not the scapegoat.
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris: Better a crash than second place
“Max once again controlled the thing, even though he kept complaining: the car doesn’t work, I have no grip and so on,” explains Christian Danner in the current issue of the ‘AvD Motorsport Magazine’ about the build-up to the showdown in the Austrian GP. “It only became critical for him after the failed pit stop!”
6.59 seconds – an unusual faux pas for the actual Tire changing champions“It happens in the best of families,” explains the former Formula 1 driver. “But it never made any difference at Red Bull because the competition wasn’t close enough. In this case it was different.” Then Verstappen braked too late, and then the drama took its course.
“A top professional like Max Verstappen doesn’t drive around waiting for someone like Lando Norris to grab him by the nose and then somehow give up a win,” explains Christian Danner. “We have now reached a point in the Formula 1 World Championship where two drivers are currently on equal terms, not fighting for the World Championship title, but definitely for the Grand Prix victory.”
It goes without saying that no gifts will be given. After several unsuccessful attacks by Lando Norris finally crashed on lap 64. “We simply accepted that because we were too emotional,” said Danner. Both drivers wanted to win, no matter what the cost.
“Emotionally means that you don’t calculate soberly and think about what is the smartest thing to do to get out of this situation unscathed – in the interests of the World Cup – but you just keep going,” explains the Munich player. “The [Verstappen und Norris] were determined to show the other one where Bartl gets the most.”
Danner: Lando Norris’ action was unnecessary and stupid
Danner sees Verstappen’s previous ‘moving under braking’ as borderline, but OK. “Of course it wasn’t completely clean, of course you should actually stay straight. But as long as there’s space, I don’t think it’s that dramatic,” he analyzes. “What prompted the stewards to impose a penalty here was clearly Max’s move to the outside.”
“It’s not like he just drove into the corner and then wondered afterwards: oops, something’s happened, that’s terrible. It was all intentional,” says the MSM expert. Nevertheless, the Red Bull driver is not (solely) to blame. “There’s also a Mr Norris who played a part in the whole accident!”
“In my opinion, Lando Norris was just as much to blame for this collision,” Danner said, referring to the McLaren driver’s mistakes. “You can’t just complain about your opponent. The bad guy won’t let me pass now. He has to find a way to get past safely, and he didn’t manage to do that.”
Overtaking Max Verstappen is of course not easy. But: “The method he chose in Austria was somewhere between superfluous and stupid,” says Christian Danner. “He won’t get past like that, he’ll have to come up with something a little more!”
Lando Norris plays a major role in the current issue of the AvD Motorsport magazine. Does he already have what it takes to win the world championship? There are also gravel traps, Sergio Perez and painting again.