Max Verstappen tells Lando Norris it is ‘1-1 now’ with Safety Car luck

Max Verstappen took advantage of a pit stop in Canada under Safety Car conditions, where an extra lap cost Lando Norris.

Max Verstappen joked that luck regarding the Safety Car timing this season is now “1-1” with Lando Norris, after the McLaren driver benefitted in Miami.

Verstappen stopped straight away when the first Safety Car was deployed in Canada and by the time Norris stopped a lap later, he was able to take track position in the lead, which he would not relinquish come the chequered flag.

Max Verstappen: ‘I guess in that sense, it’s 1-1 now this year’

Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, took to team radio to let his driver know of the lead change in Montréal and add: “What goes around comes around, that’s Miami back.”

When reflecting on that moment after the race, Verstappen explained those times in races do not always go in people’s favour, but it did level out what happened in Miami earlier this season.

“Of course, it sometimes works for you and sometimes it works against you,” the Red Bull driver said.

“So this time, yeah, it was working for us. So I guess in that sense, it’s 1-1 now this year.

“But that’s racing. It’s a part of it as well.”

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Norris had aired his frustration at not having pitted himself in the moments after the Safety Car had been deployed to hold track position, but then went longer in the race to try and ‘overcut’ Verstappen to regain the lead.

He came out of pits on slick tyres and appeared ahead of the Red Bull driver, but the wet track at Turn 2 saw the Briton have to be careful on the throttle as he rejoined the track and Verstappen was able to retake the lead.

In explaining what happened afterwards, he said he was simply too far behind to make the move stick, but stayed out longer than his rivals to try something different.

“You’re always going to have an overcut type of race in that situation because a cold slick is not going to be as good as the inter at the end of the stint,” he said.

“So that didn’t gain me or lose me anything, the little slide. And it was completely wet on the slick tyre.

“So it didn’t lose me or gain me anything, but we were too far behind Max in the first place.

“I probably pushed too late on that inter tyre in the middle stint. It’s why we stayed out because I was so quick at the end of that stint, but I probably just didn’t push early enough.

“I probably could have got past George basically one or two laps before the pit stops and closed the gap to Max to give myself a better opportunity of undercutting or overcutting him, and we didn’t do that.

“So that’s more of a hindsight thing and something I wouldn’t change. I think we made the right call there, but that was all.”

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