Norris backtracks on Verstappen F1 apology demand

Lando Norris has backtracked on his demand for Max Verstappen to admit fault for their crash in Austria and now does not think that the Red Bull driver needs to apologise.

The pair collided last weekend in Spielberg as they fought for the lead, costing them both the chance of victory, with the stewards penalising Verstappen for causing the incident.

Norris labelled Verstappen “reckless, stupid and desperate” in the hours that followed and demanded that he admit fault.

As the F1 circus rolled into Silverstone four days later for this weekend’s British Grand Prix, Norris confirmed that the pair had spoken since Sunday’s incident and that he had changed his view. Therefore, the Briton no longer felt an apology necessary.

“I honestly don’t think he needed to apologise, some of the things I said in the pen after the race were more just because I was frustrated at the time,” Norris said ahead of his home race.

“A lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotions, and I probably said some things I didn’t believe in, especially later on in the week.

“It was a pretty pathetic incident in terms of what ended both our races, it wasn’t like an obvious bit of contact. It was probably one of the smallest bits of contact you could have, but with a pretty terrible consequence for both of us, especially for myself.

“As a review, a good race, at times very close to the edge, but we’ve spoken about it, and we’re both happy to go racing again.

Norris added that the drivers, who are friends away from the track, did not need to change too much in their future approaches, although he noted that there were probably actions that both of them could have taken to avoid the incident.

He did, however, point out that the FIA should be on top of re-enforcing regulations over moving under braking, as Norris noted that it could create an even larger incident.

“It’s a tricky one. Max isn’t going to want to crash, he’s not going to want to ruin his own race and his own chances,” Norris added.

“So I think there are different things I need to do slightly differently, but at the end of it I don’t think he’s going to change too much. I don’t think I need to change too much.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, retires in the pit lane after contact with Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, whilst battling for the lead

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“We could have avoided the crash definitely, because there’s something I could have done and basically used more kerb, but there’s things from both sides that I’m sure we wanted to do better, in a slightly different way.

“But on the whole, I think, avoiding an incident for moving under braking is probably the biggest part of it. That can very easily be an incident that comes from such a thing, and I think that’s something we have to be very careful of.

“That’s just something for the future and something that the stewards need to be aware of, that something could easily go wrong. So I think to a certain point you’re defending, you’re being aggressive, and that’s okay.

“And there’ll be a point where there is a limit and I think that just needs to be defined in a slightly better way.”