‘Verstappen went in too hard’
Lando Norris maintained his opposition to the stewards’ call to penalise him for passing Max Verstappen off-track at the United States Grand Prix, stating that he was no longer the attacking driver in that scenario.
The incident between Norris and Verstappen earned the Briton a five-second penalty as he was deemed to have left the track and gained an advantage, although both drivers were outside of the white lines at the time.
Norris says that he was ahead of Verstappen before the apex, where the Red Bull driver then emerged ahead – which Norris interpreted as his championship rival going in too hard and gaining an advantage by preserving the place off-track.
He says that both he and Verstappen did what they thought was right in the situation, adding that he still did not understand the stewards’ decision-making process in awarding him a time penalty.
“I’ve not spoken to Max at all because he did what he thought was right and I did what I thought was right. I still disagree and as a team we disagree,” Norris reflected.
“I think what we saw with George [Russell]’s and [Valtteri] Bottas’s version in some ways was very similar to ours: I was completely ahead of Max, I was over a car length ahead of him. I was no longer the attacking car, he was.
“I was ahead of Max, I was having to defend, he was the one attacking me and effectively he has gone in too hard and overtaken off the track.
Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, battles with Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
“I just maintained my position so it is something I am sure we will discuss as it has been a big talking point since last weekend. A lot of other drivers didn’t agree with it, teams didn’t agree with it.
“I think the point is that he only stayed ahead of me at the apex because he went off the track, he would not have been ahead at the apex if he braked where he should’ve braked and stayed on the track. I think that is obvious.”
Norris denied that he needed to change his entire approach to be more aggressive in those scenarios, but felt he could make small tweaks to how he races in the future.
He added that fighting against Verstappen pits him against “probably the best in the world”, which naturally makes overtaking him a considerable challenge.
“It is not as easy as just saying [I need to be more aggressive]. Do I need to make some changes? Yes. And adapt a little bit more. But is everything I am doing wrong? Also no,” Norris contended.
“I had a lot of fun and I respected the battle that we had. He still ended up on top and I need to be beating him. So some little things I need to change but I don’t need to change my whole approach.
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, on the grid with his engineer
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
“Max is probably the best in the world at what he does. When I am going up against the best in the world it is not going to be an easy thing to do.
“He has been racing in this position for longer than I have. I am definitely not doing a perfect job, but I’m not doing a bad job.
“I think there are certain things I don’t agree with but I still want to be racing, I don’t want there to be rules for absolutely everything.
“I just believed the way I got a penalty last weekend and the consequences of how that happened I didn’t agree with, and that’s the only thing that needs to be changed. It is clear what his intentions are and it is difficult for me to get around.”
