While a DNF will be a difficult pill for Lando Norris to swallow after having the chance to win the Austrian Grand Prix, he did everything he needed to do when battling with Max Verstappen despite it ultimately ending in contact.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was emphatic about who was at fault: “The entire population of the world would know who is responsible.”
“The problem behind it is if you don’t address these things honestly, they will come back.
“They have come back today because they were not addressed properly in the past.”
Stella was referencing Verstappen’s aggressive tactics in his fight with Lewis Hamilton for the championship in 2021. How certain moves the Dutchman made were given leniency in the best interest of the show.
Many of his stark moves during that year would now be punished. The FIA has set out new racing guidelines and will not give the sort of leeway that was allowed back then.
But Verstappen doesn’t care. Much in the same vein to Senna and Schumacher before him — it’s up to the other driver to decide whether there is going to be a crash.
It’s the way he has competed his entire career. It’s worked for him. But there are times when he oversteps the mark. The extreme desire to win sometimes boiling over leading to a clash when his rival refuses to back down.
That’s exactly what happened in the closing stages of the Austrian Grand Prix. Twice Verstappen moved under braking before Norris went straight down the outside, leading to the Red Bull drifting over and the pair’s wheels colliding.
However, Norris did aggressively shoved his nose up the inside on a couple of occasions.
He could do nothing else but fight fire with fire.
Lando Norris was visibly annoyed after the sprint when he left the door open to his rival after getting past him at turn three. You can’t do that against Verstappen, and he knew that better than anyone, hence the remark about it being “amateur.”
Norris is known for being incredibly hard on himself and while it’s a good thing to be self-critical. There’s a difference between being self-deprecating and some feel he treads over that line too much.
It’s lead to questions about whether he has the self-confidence to go up against a driver like Verstappen one on one. Some believe that their off track friendship will stop him from going all out when wheel to wheel. They are valid points, but Norris set out his stall in Barcelona when he edged the Red Bull over to the grass at the start.
We’ve become accustomed to hearing Norris blame himself. But after the race in Austria, he wasn’t giving in and was firm in his response that he was not in the wrong:
“If he says he’s done nothing wrong, I’ll lose a lot of respect for that.“
“If he admits to being a bit stupid and running into me and being a bit reckless in a way. Then I’ll still have some sort of respect for it, but it’s still a tough one to take.
“I’m trying to be fair from my side and he just wasn’t.”
Verstappen believes he did nothing wrong. It’s an arrogance every top driver should have. It’s likely he will continue to drive in the same manner in the future.
Now it’s up to Norris to continue to match the tone. McLaren has a great all-round package. So it’s likely we will see them go wheel to wheel again at some point this season.
And likely we may see another incident in the future……
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