Max Verstappen and Lando Norris provided a spectacle in Austria. They fought a duel for the lead, but they drove into each other. It was a clash that the last word has not yet been said, and according to Christian Horner this was in line with expectations.
Verstappen and Norris have been fighting duels for weeks. The two friends are evenly matched, but in Austria it went wrong for the first time. In the final phase, the two collided in turn three. Verstappen immediately had a flat tire, and Norris’ rear tire had also not survived the clash. The Briton had to retire, while Verstappen was blamed. The Dutchman received a ten-second time penalty.
Hard racers
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner quickly made it known that he did not agree with Verstappen’s punishment. The Briton has a different view of the incident, and he explains his opinion to De Telegraaf: “I thought it was a racing incident. The punishment seemed quite severe to me, but fortunately it did not affect the final standings afterwards. But I think this was actually coming in recent weeks. They are two tough racers.”
Sprintrace
Horner thinks that the sprint race on Saturday in the background also played a role in the incident. He explains his view on the situation: “Max overtook him there without DRS and his teammate Oscar Piastri also passed him. Maybe Lando still had a hangover from that. He had already been warned about track limits in the race and he also shot off during an action before that, so the expectation was that he would get a penalty.”
