A Wednesday in front of the video for the two friends
“I don’t care about the criticism towards me, I go home and live my life, the only thing I’m worried about is my relationship with Norris, because he’s a great friend. Between us everything is clear and now we move on”. This is the summary of the Max Verstappen-thought at the first public press conference since the collision in Austria that cost Norris his retirement and the Red Bull driver a fifth place finish despite a ten-second penalty.
“Someone says I expected the contact but not the puncture? Imagine if I voluntarily seek contact. You never want to risk an accident. – added Verstappen – as I said since Sunday in the post-race we had to let the spirits cool down, it is normal that he reacts in a way when he is fighting for the second victory of his career while for me it would have been the 62nd. I remember well what the opportunity to win the second race meant to me. We looked at the images together and we agreed on 99% of the things, which is already a lot. The penalty? I don’t agree, but it doesn’t matter, there have been more serious episodes in the past regarding movements under braking”.
Regarding the braking movements, Verstappen expressed his thesis as follows: “There is always a human reaction when one realizes that one is under attack from within or without.. Norris knows he can trust me to never squeeze him, whether it’s on the inside or the outside, and that goes both ways, even when I’m attacking him. The contact was minimal and ruined the race for both of us. His dive-bombing on the inside? Everyone is trying to gain an advantage in a duel. With regard to the rules on duels, it’s a bit like the ones that lead to the design of cars, you look for a grey area and exploit it, otherwise you’ll never be successful. I think there are already too many rules, just look at how much the regulation has increased compared to 10-15 years ago. Lando and I have had many battles on the track and in sim-racing and we want to continue having them. The atmosphere that awaits me at Silverstone? Again, I was only interested in competing with Norris because I value our friendship. We will have some updates, hopefully they work”.
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