Max Verstappen and Lando Norris fought hard for the 2024 World Championship (Image: Getty)
believes that ‘didn’t mean’ his comments after the Brazilian Grand Prix. The star labelled the Dutchman’s climb from P17 to win as ‘lucky’, declaring that was actually the deserving winner of the event.
Norris’ frustrations were understandable. He was trailing Russell while boasting a clear race pace advantage, but after the two Brits came in to make their first pit stops, Franco Colapinto slammed into the barrier, bringing out a red flag which afforded a free tyre change to Verstappen and some of the others who stayed out.
From here, Verstappen made his way past race leader and stormed into the distance to take a remarkable race win. Norris, meanwhile, could only secure a P6 finish after a messy final stint in which he made a couple of costly errors while overdriving his MCL38 machine.
“You can change the tyres under the red flag,” Norris said after the race in Sao Paulo. “It’s what the others did. Just unlucky. Unfortunate. Sometimes it goes your way. Nothing we did wrong. I don’t care what people say.
“Staying out wasn’t the right thing to do. It shouldn’t have been red-flagged, and there was the crash in the end, which caused the red. That’s life sometimes. You take a gamble, it’s paid off for them. It’s not talent, it’s just luck. A bit unlucky, that’s all.”
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Norris was frustrated after finishing P6 in Brazil (Image: Getty)
These comments were widely debated, with Norris’ supporters arguing that without the intervention of the red flag, Verstappen wouldn’t have been able to make his way past the driver or early race leader Russell.
Verstappen also understands his rival’s words. “Of course, you have an interview like that just after a race, where, of course, he also got a mental blow,” he told Viaplay, “Where, of course, he could have taken the championship to his own hands, it was turned around in a moment.”
He continued: “I know Lando, and at that moment, he is very disappointed with himself. Then, of course, you immediately get a question like that. Then you just shouldn’t have had a camera in front of you for a moment.
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“I know Lando is just a good person. He doesn’t mean that at that moment. He is just very disappointed and then you get that question and then you answer immediately, because you are frustrated. I don’t take that very seriously.”
Despite their fierce on-track rivalry, the pair remain good friends. “Totally good,” Verstappen replied when asked about the state of their relationship. “Not to my knowledge, to be honest. We see each other. I had him on the phone just yesterday.”