Verstappen says racing rules “overregulated” amid Norris US GP fight fallout

Max Verstappen feels the current Formula 1 racing guidelines are overregulated, as he refutes claims that he never intended to make Turn 12 in his United States Grand Prix fight with Lando Norris.

Both Verstappen and Norris went off at Turn 12 on the 52nd lap of the race at Austin when Norris was attempting to overtake the Red Bull driver, and Norris stayed ahead despite getting the change of position completed off-track.

Norris suggested that Verstappen was quite happy not to make the corner and simply aimed to follow a line in the racing guidelines that the car ahead at the apex was entitled to the position.

Verstappen countered his point of view and stated that he always wanted to take the corner correctly, and that it was simply a showcase of hard racing between the two drivers.

He added that defending was made more difficult with the hard tyres, which shifted the grip away from his front axle and made him more cautious on the brakes.

“It’s quite impressive that people can read my mind [with apex tactics]. It’s crazy,” Verstappen said.

“I always try to make the corner, I didn’t want to look for a shortcut, so I don’t even know what to answer to this one. We’ve always said we wanted to race each other hard, that’s what we like to do.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“It was quite a difficult second stint. I lost a lot of grip on the front axle, it’s very difficult to brake. That’s what made my defence more difficult, because I know that if I braked a little bit too late, I would lock up and I really didn’t have the front grip.

“It wasn’t easy for me out there. I think all in all we still had a positive weekend for us, but still a few things of course that we want to do better, to be in that fight.

“I honestly believed, going into the race, that I would be in the fight, and we weren’t, so that wasn’t ideal. But at least it did show some promising signs that maybe we could be back in the fight.”

Verstappen joked that the rules of engagement were becoming so complex that he needed the handbook with him during the race, noting that it was becoming much more involved in recent years.

However, he accepted that removing the rules would result in calls for greater vigilance from the stewards over potential incidents. He added that he had “no concerns” about his driving being addressed in a future meeting with the other drivers.

“I think we are getting to a stage where I always need the book in the car! If you look of course over the years, the book has grown quite a lot,” Verstappen said.

“It is definitely overregulated, but then I can see the other point of if we take rules away, and there’s again an incident… ‘Oh, you need more rules! We need to be strong about this!’

“It’s always the same thing. In the past, we have maybe less rules, and you have the same argument: ‘You know, we need to be strong on this, on that’. It’s always the same story.”