Lewis Hamilton has had plenty of run-ins with Max Verstappen (Photo: Getty)
Ahead of the British Grand Prix, Sir Lewis Hamilton says he wants ‘nothing to do’ with the rivalry between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen following their big crash in Austria.
The two Formula One stars collided last weekend while fighting for the lead at the Red Bull Ring, and incident that knocked Norris out of the race and allowed George Russell to swoop in and take victory.
Verstappen was penalised for causing the crash, though refused to accept blame afterward, with Norris saying he would ‘lose respect’ for the three-time champion if he did not accept responsibility.
However, in the Thursday press conference before his home race at Silverstone, Norris appeared to backtrack on his previous comments and seemed keen to move on from the incident.
‘Max has a very different way of racing compared to a lot of the others. That’s some of the reason of why he’s a champion,’ the McLaren driver said.
‘We did [speak]. Honestly, I don’t think he needed to apologise.
‘Some of the things I said in the pen after the race were more just because I was frustrated at the time, a lot of adrenaline, a lot of emotions and I probably said some things I didn’t necessarily believe in, especially later on in the week.
‘It was tough. It was a pretty pathetic incident in terms of what ended both our races. It wasn’t like a hit, it wasn’t like an obvious bit of contact. It was probably one of the smallest bits of contact you could have, but with a pretty terrible consequence for both of us, especially for myself.
‘He doesn’t need to. I don’t expect an apology from him. I don’t think he should apologise. I thought it was, as reviewed, good racing, at times maybe very close to the edge, but like I said we’ve spoken about it and we’re both happy to go racing again.’
The incident once again raised questions about Verstappen’s aggressive driving style, something Hamilton knows plenty about after his titanic duel with the Red Bull driver for the 2021 title.
But when asked for his thoughts on what happened in Austria, the seven-time world champion refused to answer: ‘Nothing really. I didn’t think anything.
Lando Norris is keen to move on from the crash (Photo: Getty)
‘I was more concerned about my race and enjoying the team’s [Mercedes’] win.’
When pressed if he had any advice for Lando on how to better race Verstappen, he bluntly added: ‘Again, I don’t think I need to. They have raced each other for many years. It’s nothing to do with me.’
While keen to move on, Norris later suggested that he still felt Verstappen was to blame, with the Red Bull star illegally moving under braking in the build-up to the crash, and encouraged F1’s governing body to crack down on drivers when appropriate.
‘I think it was still very clear that it was happening, but it’s a tricky one. Max isn’t going to want to crash, he isn’t going to want to ruin his own race and his own chances,’ the 24-year-old added.
Verstappen refused to accept blame for the crash (Photo: Getty)
‘I think yes, there are definitely things I need to do slightly differently but in the end of it, I don’t think he’s going to change too much, I don’t think I need to change too much.
‘Could we have avoided the crash? Definitely, because I easily could have used more kerb. But there’s things from both sides that I’m sure we wanted to do better or in a slightly different way, but on the whole, I think avoiding an incident from moving under braking is probably the biggest part of it.
‘There could very easily be an incident that comes from such a thing and I think the only thing we have to be very careful of is something that could happen. So that’s just something for the future and something that the stewards and FIA need to be aware of, that something could easily go wrong.
‘So I think to a certain point, you’re defending, you’re being aggressive and that’s ok, but there will be a point when there is a limit and I think that just needs to be defined in a slightly better way.’
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