Lando Norris sends Max Verstappen message after extensive Austrian GP ‘review’

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen came to blows in Austria

Lando Norris is adamant that he would not change what he did in battle with Max Verstappen at the Austrian Grand Prix having “reviewed everything.” 

Norris and Verstappen collided while duelling for the lead on Lap 64 of 71 at the Red Bull Ring last Sunday, with both drivers suffering punctures in the incident.

Lando Norris reflects on Max Verstappen clash in Austria

The clash opened the door for George Russell to collect Mercedes’ first victory since the penultimate race of the F1 2022 season ahead of Norris’s McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.

While Norris retired upon his return to the pits, fifth-placed Verstappen ended up extending his World Championship lead over the McLaren man to 81 points despite being hit with a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.

Verstappen and Norris are likely to return to battle at this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, where the pair were separated by 3.7 seconds in first and second place respectively a year ago.

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Speaking ahead of his home race, Norris has revealed he wouldn’t have changed the way he took the fight to Verstappen at the Red Bull Ring.

He told Radio X: “In general, I’m feeling good. I’m very excited for the British Grand Prix.

“But at the same time I reviewed everything, we’ve gone over stuff, and let’s say I won’t really change what I did.

“I was fighting, and that’s what we want – we want to fight.

“We don’t want to complain, we don’t want things to end like they did, both from Max’s side and from my side.

“So, that’s life sometimes. We’re fighting, we both want to win, and we’re going to push it to the limits – some slightly more than others.

“But at the same time, I’m excited. We’re going to have more fights together, and I look forward to those times.”

Despite the stewards hitting Verstappen with an in-race penalty and two penalty points on his superlicence, opinion remains divided on the incident.

Speaking minutes after the incident, Norris’s team principal at McLaren, Andrea Stella, claimed the FIA’s failure to punish Verstappen “properly” for a series of incidents with Lewis Hamilton in 2021 had emboldened the Red Bull driver to race with such aggression.

Meanwhile, Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko described the clash as a “racing accident” and took issue with Norris’s “pathetic behaviour” over team radio for complaining about Verstappen’s defensive tactics.

Norris acknowledged that there are “people on both” sides of the debate, claiming it is “impossible to judge” such fine margins between cars from the cockpit.

He said: “There’s people on both [sides].

“It’s tough. It’s a lot harder to do some things when you’re behind the wheel. It’s never as easy as saying: ‘Why did you do that? Why didn’t you do this?’

“Because when you’re in the car and you’re making these decisions…

“It’s so hard to be as accurate as what it looks like on TV. So when it is those two centimetres than it should be or stuff like that, it’s almost impossible to judge.

“But that’s what it is, that’s the competition we’re against, and we love it.

“We want to go out and race hard and we want it to be easy, because we just want to win. But at the same time, it puts a smile on our face when we can have that competition in a race and I think it’s good for everyone watching.

“If it’s not anything else, it’s entertaining.”

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