Max Verstappen – Page 4 – Syndication Server

Norris still trying to balance approach to on-track fights

Lando Norris admits he is still to find the right balance between being fair and being aggressive in on-track battles. Incidents between Norris and Max Verstappen at multiple races this season have come under scrutiny, with the Dutchman often …

Lando Norris admits he is still to find the right balance between being fair and being aggressive in on-track battles.

Incidents between Norris and Max Verstappen at multiple races this season have come under scrutiny, with the Dutchman often getting the upper hand in close wheel-to-wheel combat. While Norris benefitted from Verstappen being penalized twice in Mexico City, he admits he already had to change his approach based on his own penalty a week earlier at Circuit of the Americas.

“I’ve always fought fairly,” Norris said. “That’s who I am. That’s who I am as a racer. That’s my way of driving every day. Maybe sometimes I’ve lost out because I’ve been too fair and not aggressive enough. And that’s where I have to find a better balance.

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“Those are the things, the changes I’ve said I’ve had to change since last weekend and over the course of this year, that when you’re racing these top guys, you learn things and you have to understand better these balances of attacking, defending, risk management, aggression, all of those types of things.

“But for me, I don’t need to worry about them. It’s got nothing to do with me, in a way. I mean, I’ll do what I can. I’ll race fairly. If he doesn’t, then things will go like they did [in Mexico]. But I think he wants to race fairly. I hope he does. I think he enjoys those moments, too, when it’s a fair battle, but all I can do is keep doing what I’m doing. I feel like I’m doing a good job and we’ll see what happens.”

Norris also says his opinion of what is fair and isn’t has evolved during this season, following a collision with Verstappen in Austria that resulted in the championship leader also being handed a 10-second time penalty.

“Austria, no one should have got a penalty, I don’t think. Maybe some of my views are a little bit different now than what they were back then. Austria, I don’t think anyone should have got a penalty. Austin, I don’t think anyone should have got a penalty. Let’s say we both kind of did things wrong.

“I feel like I was made to do something wrong, and … the majority of people, the majority of drivers feel like that was the same thing. That’s why you’ve heard of some of the rule changes that might be coming and those types of things. It’s because there’s a common consensus that it wasn’t correct what happened in the result that I had last weekend.

“(In Mexico), I think, was another level on both of those cases. I was ahead of Max in the braking zone, past the apex. I am avoiding crashing. This is the difference. I can’t speak for him, and maybe he’ll say something different.

“But I think it was a step too far from both of those, and it was clear that the stewards agreed with that. So I don’t see it as a win or anything like this, but it’s more that I hope Max acknowledges that he took it a step too far.”

Leclerc ‘welcomes’ Verstappen’s aggressive driving against Norris

Charles Leclerc says it is good for him if Max Verstappen remains as aggressive as possible against Lando Norris to aid his own championship chances. Verstappen was given two time penalties for incidents with Norris in Mexico City, following a …

Charles Leclerc says it is good for him if Max Verstappen remains as aggressive as possible against Lando Norris to aid his own championship chances.

Verstappen was given two time penalties for incidents with Norris in Mexico City, following a penalty for Norris for overtaking Verstappen off track in Austin. Leclerc is 71 points adrift of the championship leader but only 24 behind Norris and says a risk of incidents between the two increases his chances of at least overhauling the McLaren.

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“I welcome Max being as aggressive to Lando as possible because it helps me – at least it gives me chances to be closer to Lando in the drivers’ championship because it’s still a fight,” Leclerc said. “If anything, it’s more a fight, Lando and myself, than with Max that has quite a lot of advantages in points.

“On my side, I don’t think about the drivers’ championship, realistically. I think first the approach is not to start thinking about the drivers’ championship. That doesn’t help me achieve anything more. It’s by focusing race by race. And more than that, I just feel like it’s not in my control whether I win the drivers’ championship.

“Of course, there’s part of it that is in my control, and if I win all races, that puts most of the chances on my side. But even if I do that, I’ve got to have Max have very poor weekends and I don’t rely on that, so I’ll just try and do the best possible end of the season, and then we’ll do the math at the end of the season.”

With Ferrari having overtaken Red Bull in Mexico and now just 29 points behind McLaren in the constructors’ standings, Leclerc says that’s an ever-more realistic title for the team to win.

“Of course it has to be our target, because we don’t have to think about it every day. And I think the best way to achieve it is by just focusing on our own self and trying to maximize the package of our car, which is what we have done since two weekends.

“The constructors’ now is realistically possible. And it relies on us doing well more than others doing something wrong, which I’ve often said is probably the case for the drivers’ championship.

“For the drivers’ championship I need to do everything right and I need a lot of bad luck to happen elsewhere. So the constructors’ is definitely our main target and if we continue in that form it’s a realistic one.”

Verstappen ‘got what he had coming to him’ in Mexico – Norris

Lando Norris says Max Verstappen’s racing was not fair in the Mexico City Grand Prix and his title rival “got what he had coming to him” with the penalties he received. Verstappen was handed a 10s time penalty for forcing Norris off track in a …

Lando Norris says Max Verstappen’s racing was not fair in the Mexico City Grand Prix and his title rival “got what he had coming to him” with the penalties he received.

Verstappen was handed a 10s time penalty for forcing Norris off track in a battle at Turn 4 — when he was defending the inside line against the McLaren — and then another 10s penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage as he took both cars wide trying to re-pass Norris four corners later. Norris felt a similar incident in Austin a week ago went unpunished.

“I think it’s pretty self-explanatory on what happened,” Norris said. “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 … I 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. 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. Therefore, I think he got what he had coming to him.”

Norris says he doesn’t see a need to talk to Verstappen about his racing, as the pair maintain a good relationship off-track, and that he appreciates the championship leader has the ability to remain aggressive defending his 47-point advantage.

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“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.

“It’s not for me. I’m focused on myself. I’m doing my own job, which was a good job today. 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.”

Finishing second to Carlos Sainz by 4.7s in Sunday’s race, Norris believes he actually had the fastest car in race trim but lost too much time early on behind Verstappen.

“I’m happy with P2. Normally I wouldn’t be, but I think on a day like today, I was happy,” the Briton said. “Things looked like they could go a lot worse, especially the first part of the race, so to keep the car in one piece and to kind of keep the race alive was important. The pace was extremely strong.

“A shame that we lost so much in the first stint with some of the battles that we had. If I was a bit more in there and in the mix then I think our opportunities could have been even better. Carlos drove the first stint very well and the gap was already 15s, so I had a lot to try and catch up.

“The car was strong. Our pace, especially in the second stint — not really the first, but the second stint — was very, very good and kind of gave me a bit of hope again that we were competitive compared to the Ferraris. Until then… They’ve been pretty dominant this weekend, so a good race. Would have loved to be on the top step and it looks like a cool podium here. It was a cool podium, but I’m very satisfied with the P2.”

‘I’m not going to cry about penalties’ – Verstappen

Max Verstappen says he isn’t going to get overly upset by the penalties he was given in the Mexico City Grand Prix, but more about the pace Red Bull showed. The championship leader received two 10s time penalties – one for forcing Lando Norris off …

Max Verstappen says he isn’t going to get overly upset by the penalties he was given in the Mexico City Grand Prix, but more about the pace Red Bull showed.

The championship leader received two 10s time penalties — one for forcing Lando Norris off track at Turn 4, and then another for doing the same a few corners later and gaining a lasting advantage by overtaking the McLaren. Verstappen says his opinion on those incidents is not central to his current concerns, after finishing sixth and being unable to close in on the Ferrari, McLaren or Mercedes ahead.

“Honestly, 20s is a lot, but I’m not going to cry about it, and I’m not gong to share my opinion,” Verstappen said. “The biggest problem I have is today was a bad day in terms of race pace; that was quite clear again on the mediums and hard tires.

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“I just felt that Turn 4 was a bit more of like question mark, [Turn 8] is what it is. Honestly, those two things are also not my problem. The problem is that we are too slow and that’s why I’m being put in those positions. That is my problem.

“To get back to sixth was alright, but I couldn’t even fight the Mercedes drivers in front. I had no grip, was sliding a lot, couldn’t brake… [It was a] very tough one.”

Given the past two races have seen multiple incidents involving both Norris and Verstappen, the Dutchman says he doesn’t see any difficulties between the two.

“We didn’t touch, so [it was] just racing hard,” he said. “I just drive how I think I have to drive. Last week that was alright, this week a 20s penalty. It is what it is; life goes on you know.”

Although he is concerned by the race pace Red Bull showed — losing 10 points to Lando Norris in the drivers’ championship in the process — Verstappen says there have been signs that the team is getting on top of recent issues with its car.

“We’re trying, but I mean, Austin was more promising, here a bit more tough,” he said. “A bit odd — a few more things to look at. Hopefully Brazil we can be a bit more competitive.

“Still, 47 points.”

Mexico City front row ‘an incredible result’ for Verstappen

Max Verstappen describes his front row qualifying position at the Mexico City Grand Prix as “an incredible result” for Red Bull after his troublesome Friday. FP2 saw Verstappen complete just four laps and fail to set a time as a power unit problem …

Max Verstappen describes his front row qualifying position at the Mexico City Grand Prix as “an incredible result” for Red Bull after his troublesome Friday.

FP2 saw Verstappen complete just four laps and fail to set a time as a power unit problem ended his running early, having already impacted the first session. The championship leader bounced back to beat main rival Lando Norris and secure second on the grid behind Carlos Sainz, and he says it was an extremely unexpected result given his car’s performance.

“Yesterday I did like four laps, two laps on lower fuel, and two laps on high fuel,” Verstappen said. “It was basically just a complete write-off, no information. So for me FP3 was very crucial, tried to do as many laps as I could. We were behind, the car was not feeling great and everything was just very difficult.

“I knew it was going to be a tough qualifying, but we made some final adjustments and it all started to feel better. But to be on the front row is I think an incredible result for us.

“I barely did any laps, so it could only go better, really. We were massively on the back foot. So far it has been a terrible weekend in that sense, but to be on the front row with the difficulties that we had I think showed that we stayed calm and just tried to look into the data to try and understand the car a bit more and try to just be a little bit more competitive.”

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Verstappen admits his long run pace is a major area of uncertainty due to his lack of running, and he’s expecting a challenge from both Ferrari and McLaren.

“Yeah, it is. I don’t expect miracles,” he said. “I think [in] Austin, Ferrari was really, really fast. Of course maybe that weekend McLaren was not as strong, but then in the race I think they were still competitive, so from my side I don’t know, I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”

Starting from the front row, Verstappen is only likely to be able to get a slipstream from Sainz on the long run to Turn 1 but he says the track layout doesn’t alter his tactics from other races.

“It just depends where you start and what happens in front of you,” he said. “I think I’ve been in a lot of different starting positions around here! It’s a long run, anything can happen, but I don’t really think about it too much.”

Verstappen’s defending tactics need addressing – Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton believes Max Verstappen’s approach to defending needs to be addressed by the FIA amid a focus on driving standard guidelines. Verstappen overtook Lando Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix with a move up the inside that …

Lewis Hamilton believes Max Verstappen’s approach to defending needs to be addressed by the FIA amid a focus on driving standard guidelines.

Verstappen overtook Lando Norris at the start of the United States Grand Prix with a move up the inside that led to both cars running off track at the exit of the corner, and then had to defend from the McLaren later on at Turn 12, again resulting in both cars going off.

On the second occasion, Norris rejoined ahead after having moved slightly in front of the Red Bull before the braking zone, but received a five-second time penalty because Verstappen had braked late enough to be ahead at the apex despite not making the corner. The current guidelines prioritize the first car to reach the apex over making the corner itself, and Hamilton believes that needs to be revisited.

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“It’s always been a gray area, that’s why he’s got away with it for so long,” Hamilton said. “I mean, they probably need to make some adjustments for sure.

“Also, we do have inconsistencies through rulings, weekend in, weekend out, obviously depending on which year it is. As a sport, we do need to level up on all areas and if you look at other global sports, they have full-time refs, for example. I’m sure that wouldn’t be a bad thing for our sport.

“But I experienced it many times with Max. You shouldn’t be able to just launch the car on the inside and be ahead and then you go off and still hold your position. So, they need to definitely work on this.”

As the driver currently competing against Verstappen for a championship, Norris said Verstappen is able to take further advantage of the fact that he holds a comfortable lead.

“Clearly Max is very good at what he does, and is probably the best in the world at what he does,” Norris said. “So when I’m going up against the best in the world, it’s not going to be an easy thing to do. And he’s been racing in this position for longer than I have.

“I’m definitely not doing a perfect job, but I’m not doing a bad job. I’m still staying there, I’m avoiding collisions, which a lot of things that we’ve done could have easily been and turned into worse things, like bigger crashes and stuff. And I’ve avoided them and stayed in races which easily could have ended earlier than they have.

“There’s certain things I don’t agree with. But I still want to be racing — I don’t want there to be rules for absolutely everything. I just believe the slight way of how I got a penalty last weekend, and the consequence of how that happened, I didn’t agree with, and that’s the only thing I think that needs to be changed.

“But it’s clear what his intentions are. It’s a difficult route for me to get around, getting caught up in collisions and things like Turn 1 easily could have been, or Turn 12 easily could have been. So he’s in a much more powerful position than I am, it’s up to me and the team to try and overcome that.”

McLaren has lodged a petition for a right of review of the penalty Norris was given in Austin, with a hearing to take place on Friday afternoon.

Red Bull’s Horner says F1 racing rules are ‘crystal clear’

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says the rules that Formula 1 drivers have to adhere to when racing are “crystal clear” and there was no ambiguity in the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the United States Grand Prix. …

Verstappen overtook Norris at Turn 1 at the start of the race but appeared to completely leave the track on the corner exit after forcing the McLaren wide, before he again left the track defending the inside late on at Turn 12. On the second occasion, Norris went wide and rejoined ahead of Verstappen, picking up a five-second time penalty that Horner says was the obvious outcome.

“First of all, the racing between the two of them, it was competitive and great to watch and obviously all the drivers know acutely what the rules are,” Horner said. “They discuss these issues in particular corners in the briefings with the various stewards and driver stewards and race director.

“The pass was made off-track. We’ve been on the receiving end of that. In fact, here [Circuit of The Americas], I think, against Kimi [Raikkonen] in 2018. For us, it was crystal clear that the pass had been made off the track, so he should have given the place back. He chose not to, therefore there was a penalty. So for us, it was very much a black-and-white scenario.

“I think it’s very difficult for the stewards, and every incident is different so you have to look at every incident individually. When you’re on the receiving end of it, it’s not nice. As I say, we’ve been on the receiving end of it numerous times, not just at this track, but at other tracks. So, they all know what’s at stake.

“What I perhaps didn’t understand was it was clear there was going to be a penalty — or it looked pretty clear there was going to be a penalty — with the car advantage and tire advantage that McLaren had at that point of the race, it looked like he went to give the place back up at Turn 1, but there was some confusion there. If he’d have given the place back immediately, he would have probably had enough pace to make the pass [again].”

Horner said the opening-lap incident was not noted by the stewards because all teams and drivers have asked for more leniency in such situations.

“We discussed these many, many times. It goes back to Niki Lauda, making an impassioned plea to [former race director] Charlie Whiting of ‘just let them race,’” he said. “It was agreed then for the first lap, it used to be; now it is very much the first corner, let them race and that was a classic case of that. And they all know that.”

Leclerc explains ‘winning bet’ on Verstappen-Norris fight at COTA

Charles Leclerc says he made a winning bet by predicting how Max Verstappen and Lando Norris would battle at the start of the United States Grand Prix. Ferrari dominated at COTA after Leclerc went from fourth on the grid to take the lead out of Turn …

Charles Leclerc says he made a winning bet by predicting how Max Verstappen and Lando Norris would battle at the start of the United States Grand Prix.

Ferrari dominated at COTA after Leclerc went from fourth on the grid to take the lead out of Turn 1, and Carlos Sainz undercut Max Verstappen for second place. Leclerc made his gains as Verstappen and Norris both went wide at the first corner, and says he had expected the two title rivals to get caught up fighting one another.

“I knew that Max and Lando would be very aggressive towards each other,” Leclerc said. “I mean, they are fighting for the championship. I got a good start. I saw that Max was going towards the inside as well as Lando and I was like, ‘I’m just going to prepare the exit of the corner,’ which was obviously a winning bet. From that moment onwards, then I could focus on my own race.”

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Leclerc led home Sainz for a one-two as Ferrari closed to within eight points of Red Bull in the constructors’ championship, and the Monegasque says it was a comfortable run to the flag once he pulled away early on.

“It feels really good as every victory feels special for its own reason, and obviously from the start I felt really good with the car,” he said. “I was quite confident from yesterday because even though there were quite a lot of fights yesterday, the car felt great and we knew that we had a good race pace.

“We were a little bit more skeptical about qualifying, but P4 was good. I mean, we were in that [fight for] P1. Then after that start, when I got out of Turn 1 into first, I knew that it was all about trying to use the pace of the car that we had yesterday and trying to take care of those tires. The car felt great. From that moment onwards, it was a bit of a lonely race, but it’s a good kind of lonely. I hope we can reproduce that in the future.”

After a run of competitive races at tracks that were expected to suit Ferrari, Leclerc also believes the performance at COTA bodes well for the rest of the season.

“We rely on very small gaps that could make a big difference,” he said. “It’s very difficult to predict where we will be in the next few races. However, we’ve said since two or three races ago in Monza, in Baku, in Singapore, we brought a few upgrades and we were always waiting for Austin because it was going to be the real test for those upgrades. It seems to be working all good.

“That is positive for the future. It doesn’t mean that we’ll be having every Sunday the way it’s been today, but it means that we are working in the right direction and that can only be positive. I hope we can reproduce these kind of results more often.”

McLaren complains about a lot lately – Verstappen

Max Verstappen says he doesn’t sympathize with McLaren’s arguments over Lando Norris’ penalty in the United States Grand Prix amid multiple complaints this season. Norris was handed a 5s time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage …

Max Verstappen says he doesn’t sympathize with McLaren’s arguments over Lando Norris’ penalty in the United States Grand Prix amid multiple complaints this season.

Norris was handed a 5s time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when overtaking Verstappen around the outside at Turn 12, despite the Red Bull driver also going off track in the incident. With McLaren also vocal about Red Bull’s car design this weekend following an FIA request to remove a device that can change ride heights, Verstappen was dismissive of the Norris penalty.

“No, I don’t [sympathize],” Verstappen said. “I mean, they complain about a lot lately anyway, but it’s very clear in the rules. Outside the white line, you cannot pass. I’ve been done for it as well in the past.

“I think it’s quite clear: you can’t overtake outside of the white line. I mean, I got done for it also here in, I think, 2017 or whatever it was. I lost my podium like that. I just remained calm, tried to do the best I could after that to bring the car to the end because it was not easy with the tires and the situation that I was in. But overall, I still really enjoyed that battle that we had.”

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Verstappen overtook Norris at the start into Turn 1 with a move down the inside that also saw both drivers run wide, but he says losing a position to race-winner Charles Leclerc was not overly damaging to his final race result.

“There was a gap on the inside, so I went for it. That corner is very wide, so it gives you a lot of opportunity of going very wide or try to go really tight. I chose for that option, and I still came out second! Started second, came out second out of Turn 1.

“This time, of course, it was Charles in front. I think it worked out quite well for me because Charles was faster, so he just pulled away. From there, I just tried to do my own race.

“I just tried to do the best I could, to be honest. My balance wasn’t great. I was just not really… I was not able to attack the corners. [Norris] was putting [on] a lot of pressure, but around here, it’s quite a cool track to defend. There are a lot of possibilities. It makes it good for racing.”

Despite not having the pace to fight for victory as Ferrari secured a one-two, Verstappen leaves Austin having extended his championship lead over Norris to 57 points.

“That is definitely the positive,” he said. “I did hope for a little bit more performance today, so that’s what we have to analyze why today we were just not that good. I think everyone was a little bit better or at least the same as yesterday, and it felt like we were definitely worse. I need to understand why that was, because I don’t know at the moment.”

Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 at COTA as Norris, Verstappen clash for third

Charles Leclerc romped to victory at the United States Grand Prix ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz in a dominant Ferrari one-two after title rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris controversially clashed late in the race in the battle for the podium. …

Leclerc started fourth from the grid but set up his straightforward victory with a great launch to take the lead immediately from polesitter Norris and front-row starter Verstappen.

Norris launched well from the line but failed to defend the inside sternly enough from Verstappen, who barged down his inside on the brakes, taking both drivers to the outside edge of the track. It earned Verstappen position on Norris but left the door wide open for Leclerc — whose strong start had already got him ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz — to claim the apex and pass both for the lead on exit.

The Monegasque put more than a second on the field in just the first lap, aided in part by Sainz moving up to third and harrying Verstappen hard for position, and he had no trouble rebuilding that margin almost immediately after the safety car restart on lap six following Lewis Hamilton beaching his car at the exit of Turn 19.

The Ferrari set a metronomic pace with the clear air of the lead. By lap 23 he had stretched his advantage to more than 10s, by which time a low-risk one-stop strategy came into view.

With his tire change completed on lap 26, the road to the checkered flag was cleared of its final obstacle, and Leclerc was unhindered in his sprint to a dominant victory.

“I’m very happy,” he said. “It hasn’t been a n easy weekend. Until now I have been struggling a bit with the feeling with the car, but I had the confidence in the race that the feeling would be better, and it was the case.

“We had mega pace [in the first stint], then the second stint was all about managing behind. The pace of the car this weekend was really good.”

While Leclerc put victory beyond doubt early, Sainz had to be more ambitious to secure second. He looked feisty early in his battle with Verstappen, but an engine problem after the safety car restart dropped him too far from the Dutchman to challenge him in the first stint by the time some switch changes restored his car to competitiveness.

Ferrari rolled the dice on an early stop, bringing him in for a set of new hard tires on lap 21. It guaranteed the Spaniard a massive undercut advantage over Verstappen, and though the Dutchman had a four-lap tire advantage after his own stop on lap 25, Sainz was even faster on hard rubber in the second stint, putting second place beyond doubt to secure Ferrari’s first one-two finish since the Australian Grand Prix.

The score puts Ferrari just eight points behind Red Bull Racing on the teams’ title table and 48 points behind leader McLaren.

“Congratulations to the whole team and to Charles for an amazing result — a result that puts us exactly where we want to be in the fight for the constructors right now,” Sainz said. “I knew the race was going to be decided at the start. Unfortunately I got the worst of it and I couldn’t get the lead.

“Even though the pace from then on was really good and I was all weekend really fast, track position was key, and I had to settle for P2, which anyway was a good race.”

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The battle for third went down to the wire between Verstappen and would-be title rival Norris, culminating in a controversial altercation at Turn 12 on lap 52 of 56.

Norris was struggling with graining in the opening stint, but his rubber cleared up after lap 20, allowing him to extend his sole pit stop to lap 31, giving himself a six-lap tire offset on Verstappen.

He rejoined 6s in arrears but closed to within reach of DRS on lap 44, setting up a grandstand finish.

Verstappen had a clear pace deficit but was steadfast in defense. His car positioning was inch perfect in the key overtaking zones of Turn 1 and Turn 12 to negate the DRS advantage, tempting Norris only through esses, where passing is impossible.

Twice, on laps 47 and 51, they diced side by side, with Norris setting himself up on the outside of Turn 12 to take Verstappen side by side all the way through the final sector, but both times he was rebuffed.

It took until lap 52 for the McLaren to break the Red Bull Racing car’s advantage, a better exit from the Turn 11 hairpin to draw level with his rival down the back straight. Verstappen pinned him to the outside and ran deep into the corner, putting both cars off the track, but Norris kept his foot in and exited ahead.

Verstappen argued he’d been passed off the track. Norris contended that he was ahead at the apex, with his team telling him not to hand back the place. Stewards sided with Red Bull Racing, penalizing Norris 5s for gaining an advantage off the track, reversing their positions after the flag and promoting Verstappen back onto the podium.

“For me it was quite a difficult race,” he said. “I never really had the pace to attack. I was just understeering a lot, struggling on the braking, so that also made defending quite difficult, because if someone wanted to go for a move, I couldn’t really brake that late.

“I tried everything I could to keep [Norris] behind. At the end, to be on the podium is a great result.”

Norris finished a dejected fourth, losing another two points to Verstappen in his increasingly forlorn drivers title chase. Teammate Oscar Piastri was classified fifth, 1.5s further back.

George Russell completed a herculean recovery drive from pit lane to sixth, passing the lackluster Sergio Perez for the position on the final lap, with Nico Hulkenberg following in a lonely but lucrative eighth for Haas.

Liam Lawson finished a superb ninth in his first race of the year for RB ahead of similarly excellent rookie Franco Colapinto, who scored the final point of the race for Williams.

Kevin Magnussen was called to a late unscheduled stop, dropping him out of the points to 11th ahead of Pierre Gasly, who has also been on track for a top-10 finish only to find his car poorly suited to the hard tire in the final stint.

Fernando Alonso finished 13th ahead of the frustrated Yuki Tsunoda. Lance Stroll finished 15th ahead of Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon and Zhou Guanyu.