The British challenger to Max Verstappen’s recent dominance of Formula 1 saw some tasty wheel-to-wheel racing, but Norris was compromised by needing to avoid any contact to keep his title fight alive.
The defining dynamic of the F1 2024 season was that of the title protagonists Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, whose off-track friendship appeared to play some part in how the duo went fighting on track.
Aside from tense flash points in Austria and Mexico, their battle never spilled over in outright acrimony – the closest it came was at the Red Bull Ring when the pair made contact in what appeared to be a completely nondescript manner at Turn 3, only for both to suffer catastrophic punctures.
The damage resulted in Norris retiring from the race, while Verstappen clawed his way home to fifth, with a disappointed Norris later calling for an apology from the Dutch driver.
An apology didn’t come, although Verstappen made it clear that he valued his relationship with Norris and maintaining that friendship was of high priority to him.
By the following weekend, Norris’ stance had warmed back up to Verstappen and, while later incidents between the pair occurred, the tensions appeared to be focused more around the reaction from their respective teams than from the drivers themselves.
Norris, due to trailing Verstappen by a significant margin in the Drivers’ Championship, was never able to show much aggression towards Verstappen on track.
The reigning World Champion, who shows plenty of aggression at the best of times, wasn’t afraid to put Norris in tricky situations to see whether the British driver would fight back via a clash – constantly winning out in on-track duels as a result.
With the scoreboard now wiped clean for F1 2025, and Red Bull unlikely to steal an early march over McLaren, Norris shouldn’t be at such a disadvantage against Verstappen next season – and FIA steward Johnny Herbert says it’s imperative for the McLaren man to show he’s willing to take a harder stance against his rival.
“Yes, Norris needs to stand up to Verstappen more often,” Herbert told Coin Poker.
“He has been very open that maybe he hasn’t brought his A-game this year. Hearing from what I am hearing, he has accepted that this is what he now has to do, to change.
“This is a really good moment where many drivers are thinking the same as Max has done. It is going to be massively interesting to see who comes out on the top next year.
“It might well be scrappy next year but that’s what you want in Formula 1, some sharp elbows, allied to common sense. Max loads pressure on everyone.”
With Herbert making regular appearances on the FIA stewarding panel which decides on driver penalties, this apparent conflict of interest between Herbert’s position as an adjudicator and a media personality led to the Verstappen camp calling out his position after the Mexico City Grand Prix – where Verstappen was awarded 20 seconds worth of time penalties for two separate incidents while battling with Norris.
Jos Verstappen, Max’s father, suggested the “FIA should take a good look at the staffing of the stewards, who they put there, and whether there is no appearance of a conflict of interest.”
De Telegraaf then claimed that Verstappen was believed to be referring to Herbert, and Tim Mayer, the son of the late McLaren co-founder Teddy Mayer, while Max made several pointed comments referring to the British press and how he viewed individuals from that sphere as being biased against his success.
With the tensions of F1 2024 now over, Herbert said he has no lingering animosity with the Verstappen camp, or anyone else.
“Within the paddock, you just move on,” he said.
“Yes, you have your disagreements and frustrations but you just move on. That’s the only way. There is no lingering animosity with drivers or their fathers. Everyone knows being a steward is a difficult job.
I have not felt it has impacted on any relationships I have in the paddock. Everyone has enough respect for each other.”
