Max Verstappen responds to his driving and attitude as Lando Norris says he doesn’t have to say much, while F1 rivals speak up.
After all the discussions in 2021 about the driving style of Red Bull’s Verstappen, the debate has kick-started again due to his over the limit racing against 2024 F1 title rival, McLaren’s Norris. It happened in Austria and it took them a while before getting into the thick of it in Austin.
Those moments were followed by the things that happened in Mexico where Verstappen was penalised. Around this, the discussions on racing guidelines also happened with changes to come, potentially from 2025 F1 season. The initial debate took place in Mexico, with another to happen in Qatar.
Between that, Verstappen has been subjected to media trial, with the Dutchman too hinting of biased treatment especially from the British media and even the FIA stewards. He hasn’t taken names, but his attitude has been questioned, to which he responded as much in Brazil.
On the other hand, Norris noted that he hasn’t spoken with Verstappen as he doesn’t have to. The Brit has respect for the Dutchman, but not what was done in Mexico. The McLaren driver is chill about the situation in general, stating that he doesn’t have to change his approach per se.
On the sidelines, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton had his say in the fight, noting that things hasn’t changed much from 2021 to now. He has praise for both Norris and Verstappen’s capabilities, as Alpine’s Pierre Gasly too feels that the Dutchman hasn’t changed from karting days.
What Verstappen says –
Q) What about the wheel-to-wheel racing this weekend? A lot has been said, a lot has been written since Mexico. Are you going to change the way you go racing this weekend?
Verstappen: “Yeah, I’ve heard that before in my career, so it’s my tenth year in Formula 1, I think I know what I’m doing.”
Q) Max, 10 years in Formula 1 and battling for the fourth title. Is this battle with Lando Norris more motivating or less than the battle with Lewis Hamilton in 2021?
Verstappen: “I mean, I think every battle is good, you know. I don’t think any is more motivating or whatever. You just try to do the best you can every single time that you go out there, really.”
Q) You just said that you know what you are doing, but FIA, with the support of the drivers, is trying to change some driving guidelines. Don’t you feel sometimes a bit alone against everyone and everything, Max?
Verstappen: “No, I don’t feel alone at all. I have good friends and family, so I’m good.”
Q) And on track?
Verstappen: “I don’t feel alone at all. Also a lot of good people.”
Q) When it comes to racing and racing hard and aggression on the track, is that what you as a champion have to do to defend your championship? Is aggression part and parcel of this sport? And your tactics on track, are they justified even when the stewards say you’ve gone over the rules a little bit? Or against the rules a little bit?
Verstappen: “I think it’s just you win some, you lose some. That’s how it is in racing in general. And yeah, I like to win. I don’t like to lose. I think not many people like to lose. And I think, yeah, I always just try to maximise the result. And like I said, some you win, some you lose.”
Q) Max, the Ferraris were so competitive last two races. Do you think that having them fighting for the win every single weekend to the end of the season would help you on the battle for the championship? Or you prefer to stay one-to-one to McLaren and Lando?
Verstappen: “I mean, naturally, I would prefer to win by 30 seconds but that’s not possible at the moment. But it’s like Oscar said: it can be positive or negative for you when there are more teams fighting. So sometimes the point swing can be bigger. But I think for the sport, of course, in general, it’s better.”
Q) Do you feel more pressure to win this championship than any of the others you’ve won? Because at the beginning of the year, you had a really great car winning all the races. And now suddenly, you’ve seen the other teams catching up.
Verstappen: “No, not really. Just try to do the best I can. Yeah. Of course, we want to win. We want to do well, but of course, it also needs to be possible. We still have a good lead. So from my side, just try to enjoy the moment. Try to just always optimise the performance.”
Q) Damon Hill this week said he isn’t sure if you’re capable of racing fairly, so I just wanted to get your response to that. And obviously there’s been quite a bit of criticism since the last race about your tactics. Do you think in any way you’re being unfairly targeted?
Verstappen: “I don’t listen to those individuals. I just do my thing. I’m a three-time world champion. I think I know what I’m doing.”
Q) Do you think you’re being unfairly targeted? Just the second half of that question.
Verstappen: “Honestly, I have my opinions. I don’t need to share them.”
Q) You’re a three-time world champion, absolutely, but we’re never too old to learn new things. Who do you listen to? Who are your advisors? Whose advice do you respect and trust the most? Who guides you when it comes to racing?
Verstappen: “People that are objective and close to me and not just there to stir… I can’t say the word, because I’ll probably get another… I mean, apparently it only counts for me anyway, because, you know, after the race in Mexico, someone was swearing. I didn’t hear anything from it. So, it’s better I don’t swear again. But, yeah, you know, some people are just being very annoying. And I know who these people are. I don’t really pay a lot of attention to them anyway. And I think I’ve got to this stage in my career with the right people supporting me and making my own decisions. Yeah, so I think I know what I’m doing.”
Q) Who are these people?
Verstappen: “Good people, with a good heart.”
Q) From the outside, we don’t know.
Verstappen: “Yeah, but I know. That’s the most important. You know, some people are just a bit biased. And I mean, I get it. It’s fine. But it’s not my problem at the end of the day. You know, I just continue with my life and I keep performing.”
Q) Max, is your three-time world champion father-in-law someone who listens to you? And if so, what does he say to you?
Verstappen: “We don’t really talk about Formula 1 too much. I don’t think he wants to. I don’t think I want to. We talk about other stuff in life, which is anyway way more important.”
Q) Max, going back to David’s question, could you name some advisors? I believe your father, but anyone else that you could name?
Verstappen: “Well, there are many, but there’s no need to name them right here. I mean, I just trust the people around me that are honest with me and that have a good heart, you know, that mean well and not just there to stir some kind of stuff. Yeah, that’s how I’ll name it.”
What Norris, others say –
Stewards role –
Norris: “I think the stewards did a good job. I think they have a very difficult job, but they’ve done a good job. I think 99% of people who watch F1 and know F1 agree with that. So I think we’re happy from our side. I stayed out of trouble and did my job also, which is that. But every weekend is a new weekend, right? So I don’t know what to expect this weekend, obviously I hope for, or I expect, a cleaner battle than what we had. But it’s not up to me. I don’t make the rules. I don’t decide the penalties, I just drive. And the stewards did the race, and they did a good job.”
His driving, approach –
Norris: “I think something I’ve done well my whole career is always normally stay out of trouble and keep the car in one piece. All those little things add up over a championship, and over a season, especially in a cost cap season as well. But I think I’ve always had the mentality to want to race fair and clean, and sometimes I’ve been, I think I probably said it last weekend on the too-kind side, whether I was attacking or defending and things like that. I think I’ve always made good decisions from that side, and sometimes I’ve paid the price for not being aggressive enough. But the rest of it is not up to me, but I know how to keep the car in one piece.
“That’s something I’ve done for a while. Even when you don’t realise it, there are times when I had to avoid a potential crash, and maybe you don’t see it behind the TV and things like that. But inside the car, it’s ‘I’m only here because I avoided this,’ or avoided this person or that person. So there are more times than people realise that you go through those certain scenarios, and I think those are some of the challenges we have every now and then. But I’ll come into this weekend with a new expectation of hopefully we have clean, fair racing, and I think that’s what we should expect.”
Discussions with Verstappen –
Norris: “No, we’ve not spoken. I don’t think we need to. I’ve got nothing to say. I still have a lot of respect for Max and everything he does. Not respect for what he did last weekend, but respect for him as a person, and also what he’s achieved. But it’s not for me to speak to him. I’m not his teacher, I’m not his mentor or anything like that. Max knows what he has to do. He knows that he did wrong. Deep down he does, and it’s for him to change, not for me. Not that I know of [that our relation is strained]. I’ve not spoken to Max, it’s not something I need to speak to Max about. Max is probably one of the most capable drivers on the grid, if not the most, and he knows what he can and can’t do and where the limits are. He knows the changes he has to make.”
Pressure –
Norris: “I’m very chilled, I’m very relaxed when I’m on track. For me, that’s how I need to perform, is by being relaxed and not thinking about these things. Yeah, there’s two different sides, when you’re just driving, and driving quickly is one job, but staying out of trouble, not making contact, all of those things, is another task on top of it, I guess.
“I think I’ve always done a good job of staying out of trouble, whether it’s lap ones, turn, ones, any of these things, but also racing against your main competitors and rivals, it’s a big challenge, and I always expect it to be tough. I don’t want it to be easy. I never expect it to be easy. But my job is to make sure I see the finish line every time, and that’s what I got to do.”
Verstappen, title battle –
Hamilton: “Yeah, I mean, it’s definitely, I think it’s really exciting for the sport, firstly. The last couple of years, not necessarily so exciting, obviously, with Max just leading the way, and that sometimes happens. But I think it’s been really exciting for the fans to see that it can go right down to the wire at the end of the year. There’s still a possibility of Lando catching up. I read somewhere I think he’s got to get 11 points more or something in each race or something over these next races, which is definitely possible with the performance they have. And yeah, I mean, we all know Max and his strengths and can’t really say too many weaknesses, if any. And you’ve got, obviously, Lando, who’s really rose to the occasion and has been really leading the team.
“I haven’t really spent too much time looking at how they’re racing and how they’re positioning the cars. Obviously, everyone knows what happened in the last race or the last two races, but everyone will have an opinion on it. But at the end of the day, those two are the drivers. They know what they’re doing. I’m really excited to see what happens over these next races. I’m just hoping that I can at least have a good seat view to watch it all as they’ll be ahead. Regarding racing, I mean we’re kind of… Performance wise, we’ve been a bit no man’s land, so we’re not really receiving too much from behind or we’re not really attacking too many at the front.
“So I mean the rules are still the same as they were back in 2021. So what we saw in 2021 with myself and Max is still happening today and will continue until perhaps they make a change. And also, the tracks, with all the run-off areas, don’t help. If it was gravel or grass, they wouldn’t be going all the way out there. So it’ll be interesting to see the development. Hopefully they’ll make some changes for next year.”
Gasly: “It would be better to ask people that have seen Senna racing live and seen racing weekend after weekend. All I can say is from the many videos I’ve seen, it was very hard going up against him. Max’s racing style is quite unique on the grid, It seems like if you go wheel to wheel to him, the outcome is quite open and slightly different from what you’ll face with other guys. Whether it’s fair or not, it’s another conversation. It’s guaranteed hard racing and the outcome can be… It seems unlikely to end up as an overtaking and can be an incident or a penalty.
“All of us who raced in karting [with Max] was the same. After many starts, I ended up in the grass because Max started behind me, and it was just the way he used to race back then, I think. He’s also quite smart at using the regulation and takes everything up to the limit, and when you’re fighting for a world championship, that’s what you expect a guy like him to do at the limit of the regulation [is]. Whether the regulations is written properly is another question.”
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