F1 | Max and Lando: where and how the friendship that is now at risk was born

There is a photo that has become very popular over the years. July 23, 2013, the Ortona Kart Track hosts a very intense weekend of races, with the CIK-FIA European titles for the KF and KF Junior categories up for grabs. At the end of the weekend, the two titles go to Max Verstappen and Lando Norris respectively. The photo taken after the awards ceremony portrays two boys, at that moment separated by more than twenty centimeters in height, while shaking hands. Norris has great admiration for Verstappen (two years older than him) an esteem that will turn into a sincere friendship. Fourteen months later, Max will sensationally begin his adventure in Formula 1 at the wheel of the Toro Rosso, Lando will join him in 2019, after a normal path in the preparatory categories.

Sharing the same paddock, the relationship between Norris and Verstappen is cemented, during the stop imposed by covid the two regularly find themselves at the simulator for endless nightly challenges characterized by challenges, jokes, teasing and the ever ready joke. On the track, while Norris begins to settle into an environment new to him, Max begins his climb to the top floors. The two see Formula 1 from two different perspectives, but thanks to the great progress of McLaren (started in Spielberg in 2023) the two lines begin to converge.

The point of contact occurs exactly one year later, again in the Austrian Grand Prix, and it is a meeting that reveals to Norris a different reality than the one he had imagined for eleven years. His bitterness in the post-race of Spielberg emerged all too clearly, the accident that occurred on the track during the 64th lap of the race had not taken it into account, as well as the very borderline defense of the previous laps.

The eve of the Silverstone weekend will see the spotlight on both of them, initially to assess the volume of the waste left by the Austrian race (especially in the case of Norris) and then to understand the direction their relationship will take. Will they still be friends? Will there still be photos portraying them together on Verstappen’s plane while returning to Monte Carlo after the Grand Prix or with their mutual friend Martin Garrix?

“If he doesn’t apologize I will lose respect for him,” Lando made clear after the Austrian Grand Prix. “You never want to have contact with a friend,” Max replied, “but in the end this is also part of racing.”

If the technical values ​​of McLaren and Red Bull are confirmed at Silverstone, it is very likely that the two could find themselves again in close proximity. A scenario that could often recur in the second part of the season, giving rise to a dualism whose contours, at the moment, are very vague.

There are those who say that Max will never give discounts, it is not in his ‘DNA’, the risk of breaking a relationship will not make him change his mind. The ball is at Norris’ feet, he will have to decide how to play the game against an opponent who has already made it clear that he is willing to do anything to win it.

It will also be interesting to evaluate the position that the FIA ​​will take, accused by many of not having prevented Spielberg’s escalation. It will not be easy to mediate the different positions that emerged at the end of the Austrian Grand Prix, but there are many aspects to clarify, possibly in the short term.