Calmness appears to have prevailed following the collision between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The collision ended either driver’s chances of victory at the Red Bull Ring and, with emotions running high in the media after the race, there were fears the incident would drive a rift between the friendly rivals. But now that both drivers have spoken out at the British Grand Prix, there seems little doubt that Norris and Verstappen have taken another step forward.
Norris spoke at the FIA press conference on Thursday, Sky Sports F1 Verstappen shared his thoughts, describing how he contacted Norris quickly and how “shaken” he is by the whole incident.
“That’s why I said it after the race. There’s no point in discussing it now, emotions are running high and that’s how it goes,” the Red Bull driver began.
“I got up pretty early because I wanted to talk to Lando, and he had already texted me on Monday morning. I think the emotions calmed down a bit the next day. I have a lot of respect for it. We are great friends. He’s a really good guy. And of course I was very upset and disappointed that we ended up together. Of course on the track we race each other hard, but even as a friend I’m very disappointed that something like that happened.”
“But as we talked, I think we quickly agreed that we should compete hard against each other because that’s what we love and what we’ve always done. We’ve really enjoyed competing hard against each other, not just in F1 but also when we’ve raced together online and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
As Norris pointed out in the FIA press conference, despite the anti-climactic ending at the Red Bull Ring that saw both drivers eliminated from the competition, Verstappen enjoyed the battle, and also noted how the pair have battled it out both on the track and in the virtual racing world.
“The only thing I cared about was maintaining my relationship with Lando, because we are great friends. I told him after the race that emotions were running high and he needed to calm down. We spoke quickly on Monday and I think we came to the conclusion that we really enjoyed the battle,” Verstappen said.
“We both look back on the accident and it was a very silly little contact that had big consequences for both of us, and of course even bigger for Lando with how the puncture unfolded afterwards,” the Red Bull driver continued. “We love intense racing, we’ve been doing this for many years, not only in F1 but also in the online racing that we’ve enjoyed together. This kind of thing has to continue, because that’s what we love and that’s what we like to do.”
Verstappen suggested he had told McLaren driver Norris that he could “trust” Verstappen not to aim for a “crash” the next time they were involved on track.
“We agreed on 99 percent everything, which I think is already a lot. Of course, I always said to Lando: ‘When you try to make an outside or inside move, trust me I’m not there to make you crash’ and vice versa. We talked about that as well,” Verstappen said.
“Obviously, as a human being you always react if someone jumps on the inside or the outside. But I felt that nothing I did was far-fetched. Just like when you design a car, you go to the edge of the rules and try to find grey areas here and there. It’s the same way in racing. If you don’t do that, you’ll never be a top driver or be successful in life.”
Asked what kind of reaction he expected to get at Silverstone, the McLaren driver’s home race and a crowd likely to be largely pro-Norris, Verstappen admitted there was one thing that mattered more than anything else, and that was not the welcome he would receive this week.
“The only thing I care about in life is getting along with Lando,” Verstappen said.
Speculation this week has centred around the incident and how both men will deal with it going forward, but both Norris and Verstappen appear to have resolved the issue.
Now we are all waiting to see their next on-track battle.
