Lando Norris believes his rival Max Verstappen, the three-time defending Formula 1 champion, knows he was in the wrong when the pair tussled in the Mexico Grand Prix.
Verstappen received a pair of 10-second penalties for aggressive driving against Norris, his closest chaser in the drivers’ standings, at Sunday’s race in Mexico City.
Norris had to avoid two near-collisions with Verstappen on the 10th lap, first when Verstappen forced him off the track at Turn 4 and again at Turn 7 when both wound up running off the road as Verstappen passed Norris.
“We’ve not spoken and I don’t think we need to,” Norris said Thursday. “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.”
Norris, 24, finished second to Carlos Sainz in Mexico City and cut Verstappen’s standings lead by 10 points to 47. Only four races remain, in Sao Paulo, Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
McLaren’s Norris and Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen have gotten entangled more than once this year. They crashed during the Austrian Grand Prix, and at the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas directly before the Mexico race, it was Norris who incurred a time penalty for passing Verstappen while off the track.
“Max is probably one of the most capable drivers on the grid, if not the most,” Norris said. “He knows what he can and can’t do and where the limits are. So, he knows the changes he has to make.”
–Field Level Media