Max Verstappen-Lando Norris’ Austrian GP collision: Who said what after victory duel ends in contentious crash

What happened in the incident?

The collision that ended Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ increasingly fraught battle for Austrian GP victory – and ultimately the McLaren driver’s race – occurred on lap 64 of 71 at the Red Bull Ring.

A rare slow pit stop from Red Bull for Verstappen 12 laps beforehand had given Norris an unexpected chance to catch up on the long-time race leader and apply pressure on the world champion in to the closing stages.

Having been rebuffed by Verstappen on several occasions into Turn Three in the series of laps before their eventual tangle – near-missed which had led to both drivers being critical of the other over team radio – Norris’ next attempt saw him position his McLaren on the outside of the Red Bull in to the braking zone of that same corner on lap 64.

But Verstappen edged left and the two cars made wheel-to-wheel contact, sustaining simultaneous and instantaneous rear punctures.

Needing to make emergency trips to the pit lane with their damaged cars, as a grateful George Russell swept past both into the unexpected lead of a race the Mercedes driver would go on to win, the damage to Norris’ McLaren was especially significant and he was unable to rejoin.

Verstappen was able to return to the track after repairs and finished in fifth place. Although stewards found the Red Bull driver to be predominantly at fault for the collision, the 10-second penalty they imposed on him did not change his finishing position as the Red Bull took the chequered flag 26s ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s sixth-placed Haas.

What did the drivers say?

Lando Norris to Sky Sports F1:

“I looked forward to probably I’d say just a fair battle, a strong fair battle. But I wouldn’t say that’s what it was in the end. Tough one to take. It was a mistake-free race from my side, and I feel like I did a good job but I got taken out of the race, so nothing more than that.

“I mean there’s a rule. You’re not allowed to react to the other driver and that’s what he did three times out of three. Two times I managed to avoid it and not lock up and run into him, and the third time he just ran into me.

“I was just trying to drive my race. He was clearly a lot slower at the end. He ruined his own race just as much as he ruined mine.”

Max Verstappen to Sky Sports F1:

“I need to look back at how or why we touched. Of course, we will talk about it. It’s just unfortunate it happened.

“I felt like sometimes he dive-bombed so late on the brakes. One time he went straight. One time I had to go around the sausage otherwise we would have touched.

“I think it’s also the shape of the corner provides these kind of issues sometimes. I’ve had it also the other way around. It is what it is. It’s never nice to come together.”

What did their team bosses say?

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner to Sky Sports F1:

“For me, it looked like there was enough space up there for Lando and he’d already had the violation with the four strikes of track limits. One of those things. We’ll bounce back next weekend.

“You’ve got hard racers and I think that Lando was being pretty… he got his elbows out. There’s been contact before with them and in the end it cost both of them.

“He [Max] picked up a puncture, he got the penalty. I thought the penalty was harsh. That’s racing sometimes. It’s frustrating, particularly here at this race. That’s the way racing goes sometimes.”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella to Sky Sports F1:

“I see that the entire population in the world would know who is responsible except for a group of people. But the problem behind it is that 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 when there was some fights with Lewis [Hamilton] that needed to be punished in a harsher way. Like this, you learn now to race in a certain way, which we can consider fair square.

“The fact is that we have so much respect for Red Bull, so much respect for Max – they don’t need to do this. It’s a way to almost compromise your reputation. Why would you do that?”

What did the Sky Sports F1 pundits say?

Martin Brundle:

“That was going to happen at some point. They were getting so aggressive with each other.

“Max veered left towards him; he squeezed him out. Max will have to take the blame for that one, in my view.

“That was sort of Max reverting to early years Max, getting the razor blades on his elbows into the braking zones.

“I don’t know how those plane journeys, dinners and gaming is going to go between Verstappen and Norris now. That’s taken a turn, hasn’t it?”

Naomi Schiff:

“If I put myself in the cockpit, I think Lando for a couple of races has been hunting down Max to the end. Inevitably, the more that happens the more desperate he is going to get to try and get past, of course.

“So he made a couple of moves, they didn’t stick. He made a couple of more desperate moves from further back. So those moments were already starting to, let’s say, upset the Red Bull pit wall, to upset Verstappen.

“Then you sort of see Max retaliating for that in a way, and we have seen this in the past. We used to have Max 1.0 and he then evolved to Max 2.0.

“This is what surprises me today – we keep saying he has evolved so much, he has matured so much, but today I think he took a slight step backwards in that sense in that he behaved in the way we have seen him behave in the past and, ultimately, it wasn’t necessary.”

Anthony Davidson:

“For me this was the move that was going to win Lando the race as he had forced his opponent off line, properly off line. He was on the proper racing line, he was behind on the DRS detection to then slingshot to be back on the inside of the exit and challenge down to Turn Four.

“If you move to the inside, you have to give a full Formula 1 car’s width to the white line at the edge of the track. There’s not a car’s width.”

Bernie Collins:

“The stewards have found Max was at fault, they’ve given him the penalty, but we have had many, many examples in the past where a penalty has been given to one driver but actually that penalty doesn’t quite fit the result of the crime to the other, if we talk about it like that.

“It’s put Norris out of contention for a P1 or a P2 – either way, many more points on the table than he ended up with today and significant damage to the car. The 10s didn’t actually change Max’s finishing position, so there is maybe something that an be looked at there.

“Both teams will go and review it, both drivers will go away and review it, and maybe have a fresh idea.”

What did the stewards rule?

The stewards found Verstappen guilty of causing the collision with Norris and, in addition to issuing a 10-second time penalty for the incident they added two points to his superlicence, taking him up to four for the past 12 months.

“Car 1 [Verstappen] was approaching Turn 3 with Car 4 [Norris] alongside on his left.

“Before turning in, the driver of Car 1 moved to the left, causing a collision with Car 4.

“The Stewards determine that the driver of Car 1 was predominantly at fault and therefore impose the above mentioned penalty in line with precedents.”

And now what do you say? Who was at fault?

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