Note the day, June 30th, as Ted Kravitz believes that was the “first day” of the end of the Max Verstappen and Lando Norris friendship. Good friends prior to Sunday’s 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix, they came to blows on lap 64 of the race as Norris tried to pass Verstappen around the outside of Turn 3. But as the Dutchman jinked to the left to defend the lead, the two touched with both cars suffering rear wheel punctures.
Norris, who retired his car having crawled back to the pits, told the media he would “lose a lot of respect” for Verstappen if the championship leader did not accept the blame for the crash. For his part, Verstappen called out Norris’ “really late divebombs” before seemingly shrugging off any talk of blame by saying he only defended “little the inside, and then under braking, we touched with the rear tyres.” Verstappen went on to finish the Grand Prix in fifth place and extended his lead over Norris at the top of the Drivers’ standings to 81 points.
But perhaps the most “significant development”, as Kravitz put it, will be the impact Sunday’s collision has on Norris and Verstappen’s friendship. Calling the clash a “significant development in the relationship” between Red Bull and McLaren, Kravitz continued in post-race Notebook : “And in the personal relationship between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. “Up until this point, they’ve been mates.
They share nights out, they go to longer races on the same plane. “So is thi.
