Christian Horner gives update on Norris v Verstappen saga ahead of British GP

Just days after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ Austrian clash, Christian Horner says he understands they’ve “spoken already” and he doesn’t expect any lingering issues.

Verstappen and Norris came to blows at the Austrian Grand Prix when, after several attempts to pass Verstappen for the lead, Norris went around the outside of the Red Bull driver at Turn 3 on lap 64.

Christian Horner doesn’t expect any lingering tension

Verstappen closed the door as he moved left, resulting in contact that left both cars with rear-wheel punctures.

Norris, who retired from the Grand Prix, was fuming and said in the immediate aftermath that he would lose “respect” for his rival if Verstappen didn’t take responsibility for the crash.

But given Verstappen’s sarcastic reaction to his 10-second penalty for causing the collision that seems unlikely, at least not publicly.

According to Horner though, the two good friends, who often spend time together away from the race tracks, have already spoken to clear the air.

“I understand they’ve spoken already, I don’t think there is any issue,” the Red Bull team boss told Sky Sports News.

“Certainly, from Max’s side, he’s not going to change. There’s an element, I think, of Lando learning how to race Max and they’re discovering that.

“Inevitably, there is going to be more close racing between the two of them as the cars look so close over the forthcoming races.

“Max is a hard racer. He is probably one of the hardest racers on the circuit and everybody knows that if you’re going to race against Max, he’s going to give as good as he gets.”

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The Red Bull team boss also weighed on his McLaren counterpart, Andrea Stella’s, claim that Sunday’s antics were a direct result of the stewards being too lenient during Verstappen’s 2021 title fight against Lewis Hamilton.

As then FIA race director Michael Masi declared it is “all about letting them race” when Verstappen forced Hamilton off the track at the 2021 Brazilian GP, Stella said: “They have come back today because they were not addressed properly in the past when there were some fights with Lewis.

“That needed to be punished in a harsher way like this. You learn how to race in a certain way, which we can consider fair and square.”

Horner rubbished that, saying: “He [Verstappen] raced incredibly hard in 2021, he’s a tough racer, and he hasn’t really been racing anyone for two years because he’s been out front so much.

“The conflict between the two of them been building over two, three, four races where they’ve been racing each other closely and hard, and at some point that was always going to spill over – and it did at Turn 3.

“He was punished in 2021 if he did something wrong just as Lewis, who he was racing so hard that year, was for things he did wrong.

“I think it’s wrong and unfair to label a driver like that and I’m sure in the heat of the moment it was frustrating for Andrea, but that’s just tough racing. He worked with Michael Schumacher [at Ferrari] for so many years – he of all people should know that.”

Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ standings is up to 81 points ahead of Norris while Red Bull are 64 up on Ferrari in the teams’ standings.

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