Lando Norris and Max Verstappen are hitting the F1 headlines for all the reasons in the run up to the British Grand Prix. Having thrilled the fans for ten laps during last weekend’s race in Styria, the pair came together on fateful lap 64 handing George Russell Mercedes first win of the season.

Much has been written in the last 48 hours since the event, with ex-F1 racing drivers generally of the opinion it was Max’s fault for failing to allow Lando enough room on the outside of turn 3. Yet a ‘fake’ rule is consistently cited which talks about moving under braking when in fact the FIA appointed race stewards penalised Verstappen for “avoidable contact.”

Lando had consistently complained before the incident which proved terminal for his race, that Max was moving under braking, something which a ‘gentleman’s code’ across all motorsport agrees is poor form.

 

 

 

Norris “lost faith” in Max

Such was the extent of the change of direction, analysis from Sky F1’s Anthony Davidson suggested Norris had lost faith in where Max was going to place his car as they arrived each lap at the single best over taking point at the Red Bull Ring.

Verstappen has been accused in certain quarters of returning to his “old ways” and crashes with Hamilton in 2021 are cited as examples. Yet the thing which was strangest of all about the incident was Red Bull knew Norris had a penalty incoming for track limits and so their star driver could have played it safe avoiding the contact in the knowledge the race was pretty much in the bag for him.

Even with a puncture, Verstappen tried to run Norris off the road again as the McLaren recovered from the turn 3 incident and headed down the straight to turn 4. Yet the world champion was to get a lucky break as his tyre which was off the rim, found its way back on leaving Max capable of trundling around much more quickly than Norris, whose Pirelli was flailing wildly and damaging the McLaren car’s bodywork.

Going into the weekend, Norris had revealed he and Verstappen travelled to and from races together and despite the closeness of the finish in Barcelona, Lando stated both drivers had a healthy respect for each other.

Ricciardo hits back at “unfair criticism”

 

 

 

Marko calls Norris “pathetic”

Clearly, this didn’t last the weekend in Styria and Norris called for Max to apologise if he were not to lose respect from his friend. Speaking about the radio messages prior to the crash where Norris was complaining of how Max was positioning his car, Dr. Helmut Marko is dismissive.

“It was pathetic how Norris behaved on the radio,” the Austrian told OE24. “But these things happen and I would write it off as a racing accident, although more likely Norris went over his limits.”

“Norris’ comment that Max should apologise doesn’t really help. But they will meet for a chat,” added the 81 year old Austrian. “Normally they fly together, but this time they travelled separately. So Max had a quiet return flight.”

Marko put the while thing down to Lando’s lack of experience, but on current form the pair are likely to be on the same piece of track racing this weekend in Silverstone.

Should the FIA regulations be ‘beefed up’?

 

 

 

Verstappen takes aim at Red Bull not Lando

Verstappen had his say on the matter, but appeared to back off from being overly critical of his friend Norris. When asked if it will be difficult to move on from the collision, he said, “It shouldn’t be. I mean, we’re all racing drivers. Of course you don’t want to crash into each other but when you are fighting for the lead, it’s always tough battles.

“It happened today which is of course a shame. I’m annoyed. He’s annoyed.” Max concluded: “We’ll speak, but it’s not the right moment now. Better to cool down.”

Most of Verstappen’s ire was aimed at his own team and their operations during the race. Max had built an 8 sedan lead when it came to the round of pit stops. Yet an extraordinarily long delay when switching tyres meant Norris was on the tail of Verstappen when the pair resumed to racing on track.

“We basically did a lot of things wrong today. Firstly, it started with the strategy, then the pitstops were a disaster. The first one was already bad, the second one was even more of a disaster. And then of course you give free laptime. There’s seconds you give away, six seconds over those two pitstops,” Verstappen observed after the chequered flag.

Friction between Wolff and Russell

 

 

 

Verstappen wanted to three stop

“We did everything wrong that we could have done wrong.” Max was then extensively questioned on Norris comments and calls for an apology, but he seemed keen to return to what he saw the source of his troubles – being the Red Bull team’s unusual disarray. Max clearly felt the team should have committed to a three stop pit strategy, which lets the drivers run more to the limit on each stint rather than having to conserve tyres.

“Everything has been wrong. I’m complaining about the tyres, we didn’t pit. I was stuck in traffic, bad execution with the pitstops…. Everything just went wrong.”

“Suddenly the car just transformed from an OK balance in the first stint to just undriveable behaviour afterwards, which normally indicates that something was also wrong,” he said.

“But even with that, we should have won if we didn’t make so many errors as well with the pitstops.”

Norris faces most important decision yet

 

 

 

Silverstone identified as McLaren track

This weekend in Silvertsonte, McLaren identified early this season as their best opportunity for a Grand Prix win. Yet with a maiden F1 victory under Lando’s belt in Miami a few weeks ago, hopes will be even higher that the papaya liveried cars can match or outrun the world champions.

Lando Norris finished a close second to max Verstappen last year at the Northamptonshire track and the belief in the team is he can go one better now he understands how to deal with Max.

Analysis: What went wrong for Hamilton

 

 

 

Sainz delay and Sargeant benched for Silverstone

Having started the season in dramatic style with the Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari bombshell announcement, the Formula One driver market has ground to a halt. Carlos Sainz was expected to announce for Williams in Spain. Yet a late bid from newly appointed Alpine consultant, Fabio Briatore, threw a spanner in the works while the Spaniard’s advisors consider the myriad of exclusion clauses they may need should a top team’s seat become available.

Carlos is the cork in the bottleneck as Valterri Bottas explained in Austria. “I was hoping there would be decisions made earlier this week, but deadlines got pushed back again. So, that’s the situation, nothing new from last weekend,” said the Finn. “So obviously, kind of waiting for one piece to fall into place. And then it should all happen pretty quick.”… READ MORE