Lando Norris has rejected the suggestion that he needs to be more aggressive when racing wheel-to-wheel with Max Verstappen – and he says he doesn’t have to change his approach.
However the McLaren Formula 1 driver acknowledged that there are “little things” that he can do better as he attempts to beat the Dutchman to the 2024 title.
The battle for third between the pair in Austin last weekend has generated a lot of comment, with some suggesting that Norris could have done a better job.
Norris received a five-second penalty that McLaren is now contesting via a request for a right of review.
“It’s not an easy answer,” said Norris when asked if he should be more aggressive. “Honestly, it’s not as simple as just saying ‘yes.’ Do I need to make some changes? Yes, and still adapt a little bit more. But is everything I’m doing wrong? Also a no. So it’s a tough position to be in.
“Because like we saw, Max didn’t care if he won or second or third. His only job was to beat me, and he did that. So he did a good job from that side, and I had a lot of fun, and I respected our battle that we had.
“But yeah, he still ended up on top, and I need to be beating him. Some little things I need to change, but I don’t need to change my whole approach.”
Expanding on the theme he said: “He did what I guess he thought was right. I did what I thought was right. I still disagree, and I think as a team, we still disagree. I think the majority of people who were watching disagreed with the penalty that I got.
“But I’ll make the changes that I need to make, whether it’s being more aggressive at times, or less aggressive, or whatever, I’ll do what I think is right.”
He added: “I think the point if he only stayed ahead of me at the apex because he went off the track. He wouldn’t have been ahead at the apex if you braked where he should have braked, and stayed on the track. So I think that’s the most obvious point.”
Norris acknowledged that it’s not easy to wheel-to-wheel with Verstappen, but insisted that equally he’s
“Clearly Max is very good at what he does, and is probably the best in the world at what he does,” he 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 avoided them and stayed in races which easily could have ended earlier than they have.”
Continuing with the driving guidelines theme he said: “I think 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 team to try and overcome him.”
RBR boss Christian Horner said in Austin that he was surprised that Norris hadn’t given the place back and then used his superior pace to re-pass Verstappen.
When asked by this writer if the team could change its approach and perhaps react differently in such situations – taking the cautious route of assuming that there will be a penalty, handing the place back and then trying to pass again – Norris disagreed.
“It’s too easy for people to say this,” he said. “My tyres were getting hotter and hotter, and getting away for me more and more. My pace difference to Max was decreasing. So if I let him back past there probably might not have been a chance to get past him again.
“But just hindsight, and people’s opinions on the outside, is very simple thing. So I don’t agree with a lot of people, and what they said. That might have been my only chance. Who knows? I know best. I’m in that position.
“So I’ll give my opinion. Sometimes I’ll be right, sometimes it’s wrong. I don’t mind if people disagree with my opinion, but I’m always just trying to do what I think is best at the time, and within the rules that I believe is correct, and those kinds of things, and sometimes it’s difficult.
“Hence, I asked the team, what do you guys think? Ideally the stewards would come on and say, we don’t think this was right, give the position back. That would have been a much simpler thing to do.
“But that’s not how it works. I believed I was in the right. I’ve asked the team for confirmation. They believed that we were in the right, and therefore I’ve continued.
“So no, I think we’re doing a good job as a team. I think our approach is correct, but sometimes you just don’t come out on top.”
Adam Cooper F1 