The turning point of the Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix happened on the 64th lap. Near the end, Lando Norris (McLaren/Mercedes) attacked Max Verstappen’s (Red Bull) lead for the third time on the way to turn three, but the rival changed direction to block his path in a way that the collision was unavoidable. Norris retired, while the Dutchman ended up with a punctured tire, received a ten-second penalty, but still finished fifth.
Quoted by the website PlanetF1.com, the British driver spoke about the incident: ‘I’m disappointed, nothing more than that. Honestly, it was just a good race. I was looking forward to a fair and clean fight, a strong clean fight, but I wouldn’t say it ended up being that. So, it’s hard to accept, it was a race without mistakes on my part and I feel like I did a good job, but I was taken out of the race’.
For Norris, there is no doubt that Verstappen was at fault and broke the rules: ‘There is a rule, you are not allowed to move and that’s what he did. Three times out of three possible. Twice, I managed to avoid it and the third time he just came at me. He ruined his race as much as he ruined mine’.
So far, #4 has had a friendship with the three-time world champion, and warned that the rival’s reaction will determine how their relationship will be: ‘It depends on what he says, if he says there was nothing wrong, then I lose a lot of respect for him. If he admits to being a bit stupid and coming at me and just being a bit reckless in some way, then I will lose a small amount of respect for him’.
