Pink Bull workforce boss Christian Horner says Lando Norris is now discovering simply how onerous its is to race Max Verstappen, which is partly why the 2 drivers got here to blows in final weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix.
After an exhilarating battle that lasted a number of laps, issues bought heated at Flip 3 between the 2 drivers. Contact was made, leaving each contenders with punctured tyres and dashed hopes.
Verstappen managed to limp again for a P5 end after a pit cease, however Norris’ McLaren was too broken to proceed the race.
The aftermath was crammed with pressure. Norris and McLaren workforce boss, Andrea Stella, have been fuming over Verstappen’s aggressive defending.
They felt the Pink Bull driver repeatedly modified his line below braking, leaving Norris with nowhere to go earlier than the conflict.
Nevertheless, Horner labeled the McLaren camp’s criticism as “mistaken and unfair” and insisted Verstappen “will not change” his racing fashion, suggesting Norris is just getting a style of how the reigning champion operates.
“Definitely, from Max’s facet, he isn’t going to alter,” Horner advised Sky F1.
“There’s a component, I believe, of Lando studying the right way to race Max and so they’re discovering that.
“Inevitably, there’s going to be extra shut racing between the 2 of them because the vehicles look so shut over the forthcoming races.
“Max is a tough racer – he is in all probability one of many hardest racers on the circuit and everyone is aware of that if you are going to race towards Max, he will give pretty much as good as he will get.”
Talking to the media after his run-in with Verstappen, Norris was visibly upset by his rival’s techniques, and recommended that his respect for the Dutchman would considerably reduce if no apology was forthcoming.
Nevertheless, Horner recommended that the 2 protagonists had cleared the air behind closed doorways within the wake of their on-track dispute.
“I perceive they’ve spoken already, I do not assume there’s any subject,” he stated.
Talking to Sky F1 instantly after the race, Stella recommended that Verstappen’s aggressive techniques have been merely a legacy from the dearth of sanctions directed on the Pink Bull driver throughout his intense battle with Lewis Hamilton in 2021.
The McLaren F1 boss believes Verstappen wasn’t held accountable when pushing the bounds, resulting in his present on-track habits.
However Horner took exception with Stella’s view, and famous that the tensions between Verstappen and Norris have been constructing previously few races.
![](https://f1i.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/SI202405052777-scaled-e1719943169197.jpg)
©RedBull
“He raced extremely onerous in 2021, he is a tricky racer, and he hasn’t actually been racing anybody for 2 years as a result of he is been out entrance a lot,” Horner stated.
“The battle between the 2 of them has been constructing over two, three, 4 races the place they have been racing one another intently and onerous, and in some unspecified time in the future that was all the time going to spill over – and it did at Flip 3.
“He was punished in 2021 if he did one thing mistaken simply as Lewis, who he was racing so onerous that yr, was for issues he did mistaken.
“I believe it is mistaken and unfair to label a driver like that and I am certain within the warmth of the second it was irritating for Andrea, however that is simply robust racing.
“He labored with Michael Schumacher [at Ferrari] for thus a few years – he of all folks ought to know that.”
Hold updated with all of the F1 information by way of Fb and Twitter