Lando Norris delivers his verdict on Verstappen v Russell spat in Abu Dhabi

Lando Norris is “enjoying watching” the intense “squabble” between Max Verstappen and George Russell, but can understand Russell’s actions.

Verstappen was left enraged with Russell after he was given an unprecedented one-place grid drop in Qatar, promoting Russell to pole, after Russell had taken evasive action upon encountering a slower-moving Verstappen when both were on Q3 cool laps.

Norris understands Russell’s ‘at all costs’ Max Verstappen approach

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Verstappen said never in his “whole career” has he experienced a driver “lying” in the stewards’ room like Russell did trying to get him a penalty, while he has “lost all respect” for the Mercedes driver. Russell similarly has been brutally fierce in response, claiming Verstappen had threatened to “put me on my f**king head in the wall.”

All this has proven very entertaining for Verstappen’s title rival from earlier in the season Lando Norris, who sees two sides to the coin in this argument.

“I don’t know the details… Actually I do know a lot of the details of what was said and what happened, but that’s for them to squabble about and argue about,” Norris told the media, including PlanetF1.com, at the Abu Dhabi season finale.

“So you have the two sides. You have the side of we’re paid to come here and to race and to perform well for our team, in some ways, no matter at what cost. You want to win and you want to give yourself the best opportunity. For George, that was by saying probably what he said and doing what he said.

“At times, you know, I think between drivers, you have that amount of respect when something happens. You’re like, that’s racing, or that’s just what happens sometimes, and you don’t want either of them to get a penalty because it’s racing and it’s just a situation where no one should really get a penalty.

“Mercedes are not fighting for a championship or something like that, so they’re kind of clinging on to a bit more than what Max is. So they’re going to do at what all costs it takes to try and get a pole or try and get a win.

“So maybe he’s paid the price a little bit of the respect from Max.

“But everyone does things their own way. Some fight harder for things, some fight less. But I enjoy watching them argue like they do!”

How the Verstappen v Russell war of words escalated in Abu Dhabi

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Norris was then reminded that Verstappen also tried to get him a penalty in Qatar, having questioned over team radio whether Norris had slowed down the straight under yellow flags.

The FIA came down hard, issuing Norris with a 10-second stop/go penalty.

But, there are no hard feelings from Norris.

Asked if his respect for Verstappen remains, Norris confirmed: “Yes.

“I mean, to be honest, I think every driver on the grid would do the same as what Max did. That’s racing, you know, there’s the rules. Max could tell I didn’t obey the rules.

“I could have done, I still could have lifted and he just doesn’t know, but he’s thought of something, and he said it, that’s completely fine by me.”

Verstappen was quizzed on that radio message during the pre-Abu Dhabi Grand Prix press conference, and insisted that he was merely asking a question and not fishing for a Norris penalty.

“It was just a normal question,” he said. “I mean, I knew that I lifted, and I suddenly look in the mirror, and I saw that the gap closed up a lot. So I just asked, did he lift or not, just to double check.

“Of course, sometimes with yellow flags, some people lift more than others. And yeah, you can gain some tenths here or there. I luckily tried to play it safe, and then just asked and see the outcome of it.”

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