That is the claim coming from Jos Verstappen, the ex-Formula 1 driver and father of Max Verstappen, who battled and defeated McLaren’s Lando Norris to win his fourth straight World Championship in F1 2024.
Team orders at McLaren became a key topic for debate as a push for the not only the Constructors’ title, but the Drivers’ too, came into view with the McLaren taking over from Red Bull’s RB20 as arguably the leading car on the grid after Red Bull’s dominance faded.
Ultimately a key juncture came in Hungary where, after undercutting team-mate Oscar Piastri with McLaren acting to defend the one-two result, Norris was asked to let Piastri back through into the lead.
A period of back-and-forth followed before Norris eventually obliged, freeing Piastri to take the win, with Verstappen later securing the title, sealing the deal in Las Vegas with two rounds to go, his final margin over Norris 63 points.
And Verstappen Sr believes McLaren’s F1 2024 review will feature regret regarding the Hungarian GP.
“They must have regretted that later,” he said of McLaren’s Budapest team orders when speaking to Formule 1.
“But it’s hard to say anything about that, because you don’t know what’s going on in that team, what contracts are like and what agreements were made.”
What Mr Verstappen does know is that his son may not have been able to bring himself to follow such a request.
“But if I translate it to Max, I think he would have had trouble letting his team-mate pass,” Jos continued. “But everyone is different and has to react in the way that suits them.”
Norris has selected a different turning point from his F1 2024 title battle with Verstappen, that being the Mexican Grand Prix, where Verstappen received a 10-second penalty for forcing Norris off the track and another 10 seconds for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, as the title protagonists went to battle.
There, Norris said he learnt that Verstappen is not always the perfect driver.
Asked after his victory in the Abu Dhabi season finale whether this boosted his self-belief ahead of a potential F1 2025 title challenge, Norris told media including PlanetF1.com: “Honestly, it’s probably the harder moments, which are the ones you learn the most, so it’s kind of true what people say.
“Those harder times, my battles with Max, that kind of thing, certain other cases throughout the season.
“If I go back to Austria and Silverstone, there are just some along the way and some have different reasons, but none of them are necessarily ones which have made me doubt myself any more.
“This season’s been my best season from a performance [standpoint] personally, was it good enough? Probably it wasn’t, no.
“But when you look at my own performance, and my qualifying performances, for instance, they’ve been almost twice as good as what I was last year – especially comparing to the other guys in exactly the same car.
“Obviously lost out on a few things, and there were maybe three starts this year which lost me one or two positions at times – but they were positions quite often just to Max.
“None of them, when I look back on them, made me feel like I’ve not got what it takes.
“Those only moments came when it was directly against Max. Going up against Max in any state is always going to be tricky, and no-one has a nice time racing Max.
“I think Mexico was a bit of a turning point when it was proved that not everything he does is perfect.
“I think if we all go back to Austin and go back to Turn 12, [the] majority of almost everyone on the grid, as drivers and also externally, disagreed with the fact I got a penalty. We either both shouldn’t have got one, or we both should have got one.
“So I think it’s little cases along the way, but certainly from a pace point of view, of not doubting myself this year, and I think I’ve definitely given myself more faith.
“It was more just that toe-to-toe fight with one of the best in the world. And the thing is, what you don’t see on the outside are some of those moments where, if I did certain things, we would have crashed.
“People on the outside have no idea on what it takes, and those moments where you accept losing a battle, and that is the case, and that was because of where we were in the first six, seven races of the year.
“We lost too many points, and I was just in that position where I couldn’t gain as much as what I needed to and wanted to, but I’m not using any of these as excuses.
“I’m saying I didn’t have what it took this season to fight against Max and deliver what I needed to deliver.
“But it certainly gave me the feeling of, ‘OK, if I improve this little bit here, this little bit here,’ for the first time, I have confidence in saying I’ve definitely got what it takes.”
