Max Verstappen dodges Lando Norris question after being called out by Jenson Button | F1 | Sport
Max Verstappen refused to elaborate on his view of a tense tussle with Lando Norris which landed the McLaren star with a five-second time penalty at the United States Grand Prix.
The two Drivers’ Championship challengers went toe-to-toe in a battle for P3 over the final few laps of the race, which was dominated by Ferrari as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz claimed an impressive one-two.
Norris, on fresher tyres, finally passed Verstappen at Turn 12 but went off the track while doing so. He refused to give the place back and stewards hit him with a five-second time penalty which restored Verstappen to third place, despite him taking the chequered flag four seconds behind the 24-year-old.
Speaking to Sky Sports‘ Jenson Button immediately after the race, Verstappen said: “For me, of course, it was quite difficult. I never really had the pace to attack, so it was a bit different compared to yesterday [when Verstappen won the sprint race].
“I was understeering a lot and struggling under braking, so that also made defending difficult. Every time somebody wanted to go for a move, I couldn’t really brake that late. It was a tough battle. I tried everything I could to keep him behind. At the end, to be on the podium is a great result for us.”
Referring specifically to the incident at Turn 12, Button called Verstappen out by saying: “Obviously Lando ran wide and made the move, but it looked like you also went off the circuit a little bit.”
The Dutchman flailed his right arm and responded: “Yeah. I have my opinion but I don’t need to say it here, I’ll let the stewards do their thing. For us it was a race where we learned a lot, and we’ll just analyse that.”
After winning Saturday’s sprint race and earning a better result than Norris in the Grand Prix, Verstappen widened his advantage in the individual standings to 57 points. With only five races remaining, time is running out for the McLaren man to close the gap.
And Norris could not hide his frustration when asked about his time penalty in Austin. “They [the stewards] couldn’t make their minds up for a few laps, so it was obviously not an easy decision, otherwise it would have come a bit sooner,” he told Sky Sports.
“I tried. He also went off the track. If he’s gone off the track, clearly he has gone in way too hard and also gained an advantage by doing what he did. But I don’t make the rules.”
