Zak Brown claims Max Verstappen ‘won’t change anything’ unless he is told what is ‘not allowed’ after Lando Norris clash

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris's Austrian GP crash has become one of the most talked about topics in F1.


Zak Brown claims Max Verstappen ‘won’t change anything’ unless he is told what is ‘not allowed’ after Lando Norris clash

Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Zak Brown (via IMAGO)

A majority of the people on the grid blamed Max Verstappen for his Austrian GP collision with Lando Norris. The Dutchman’s extremely hard racing style was the reason behind damaging contact. Andrea Stella and Zak Brown had spoken against Verstappen’s innocence in the crash. Hence, Brown has furthermore commented on the 26-year-old’s mistakes during the incident.

Andrea Stella noted that a repeat of the 2021 season wasn’t necessary this time around. Zak Brown reckoned that the drivers on the track had to always leave a car’s wide gap which Max Verstappen did. Additionally, it was the responsibility of the team and the drivers’ radio engineer to remind them of their limits while racing on the track.

You have to leave a car wide and [Max] did that. It's also up to us teams to tell the drivers where the limit is.
Zak Brown said, as reported by formulapassion.it.
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Max Verstappen also needed to act on his instincts and try to avoid such incidents. The Dutchman could’ve ceded positions and allowed Lando Norris to pass him. However, Zak Brown believed that until and unless no one told anything to the reigning world champion, he wouldn’t mend his ways of racing around a circuit.

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As long as no one tells him anything, Max won't change anything.
Zak Brown added.

Max Verstappen claims Lando Norris initiated talks first after Austrian GP

Lando Norris was extremely frustrated after retiring from the race due to the incident. As a result of the heat of the moment, Norris reckoned that his friendship with Max Verstappen would be over. However, subsequently, the Briton mentioned that the 26-year-old didn’t really need to apologize. Moreover, Verstappen recalled that the 24-year-old was the one to text him first.

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen
Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via IMAGO)

Verstappen wasn’t as concerned about the incident as much as he was about harming his friendship. The Dutchman had noted that Norris was disappointed with the incident. However, he noted that Norris had already texted him first and wanted to sort out the issues from the incident.

I woke up quite early on the Monday morning cause I wanted to talk to Lando, but he already texted me!
Max Verstappen said in an interview.

Hence, the friendship between the two drivers is stronger than ever after making up for the incident. The two will showcase great rivalry in the 2024 season for winning the drivers’ championship. The competition is extremely close between the top order of the drivers on the grid.

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