The championship protagonists had another tense battle in Mexico, with Max Verstappen losing out as he was given 20 seconds worth of penalties over two separate incidents while battling Norris.
In the early stages of the Mexico City Grand Prix, Verstappen was attempting to hold back the attacking Norris as it became clear the Red Bull was lacking race pace relative to their rivals.
An attack from Norris into Turn 4 saw Verstappen run the McLaren out wide and across the grass, with the Dutch driver slotting in behind Norris as they regrouped. Approaching Turn 7, Verstappen dived up the inside of Norris but carried too much speed – resulting in both cars having to go off into the escape area and allowing Charles Leclerc through.
Norris duly went on to finish second, with Verstappen coming home sixth after serving 20 seconds worth of time penalties. He was given two separate 10-second penalties for the incidents.
The furore came just days after a contentious battle between the pair in the United States went in Verstappen’s favour, as Norris was given a penalty for overtaking Verstappen off-track at Turn 12 of COTA.
Speaking after taking second place in Mexico, Norris opened up on losing time in his first stint due to Verstappen’s defending – time that may have cost him a chance at catching race winner Carlos Sainz before the chequered flag.
Trailing Verstappen by 57 points going into the Mexico weekend, Norris said it was clear to him that Verstappen is no longer concerned about the results he achieves but only about beating Norris by any means necessary.
“I don’t think I need to say much,” Norris said.
“Yeah, I think it’s pretty self-explanatory on what happened. You know, I did everything I’ve been told in terms of what the rules are and the guidelines and all of this stuff, yet it just wasn’t to be. And, of course, he got some penalties for that.
“But, you know, I think… I always, like I said before in some of the interviews, go into every race expecting a tough battle with Max. It’s clear that it doesn’t matter if he wins or second, his only job is to beat me in the race. And he’ll sacrifice himself to do that, like he did today.
“But I want to have good battles with him. I want to have those tough battles like I’ve seen him have plenty of times. But fair ones. It’s always going to be on the line.
“It’s always going to be tough with Max. He’s never going to make anyone’s life easy, especially mine at this point of the year. But I think today was just… It was not fair, clean racing. And therefore, I think he got what he had coming to him.”
Asked whether he believed Verstappen was harsher racing him than he had been in Austin, Norris said, “Probably, yes”, before he was asked about his relationship with the Dutch driver.
Verstappen and Norris are known to be friendly off-track, but this relationship is being tested by their increasingly fractious on-track battle for this year’s championship.
Earlier in the year, following their clash in Austria, Norris called off his public call for Verstappen to apologise for his part in their collision, while the reigning World Champion spoke about his desire to maintain his friendship with the British driver.
Norris was asked whether he and Verstappen are talking about the nature of their on-track encounters at present.
“I mean, we talk about different things,” he said.
“It’s not my job. it’s got nothing to do with me in a way.
“Today, I felt like I just had to avoid collisions and that’s not what you feel like you want to do in a race. He’s in a very powerful position in the championship. He’s a long way ahead. He has nothing to lose.
“People can say it’s the other way around, like he’s got everything to lose and it’s all for me. But it’s not the case, you know. So it’s not for me. I’m focused on myself.
“I’m doing my own job, which was a good job today. And I’m happy with all of this and I’m happy with my whole weekend. But it’s not my job to control him. He knows how to drive. And I’m sure he knows that today was probably a bit over the limit.”
The results in Mexico brought Norris 10 points closer in the Drivers’ Championship, resulting in the deficit now being 47 points with four race weekends to go, but the McLaren man said it doesn’t feel like he’s much closer.
“I mean, I’m 47 behind still,” he said, “but every point helps.
“Charles got fastest lap at the end, so that’s one point they took away from me, but… Yeah, I don’t know. I’m just doing my own thing and focusing.
“And as a team, we’re doing our own thing and focusing on ourselves. A lot of people against us, but we’ll keep pushing forward.”
