Norris Dismisses Verstappen‘s Comments as “Nonsense” Following Qatar Sprint
Lusail, โQatar – A simmering rivalry between McLaren‘s โคLando Norris and Red Bull’s Maxโฃ Verstappen has surfaced following Verstappen’s remarksโข regarding McLaren’s current performance. Afterโ Saturday’s sprint race in Qatar,where Norris extended his championship lead over Verstappen by a single point,the McLaren driver responded toโฃ comments made โคby the reigning World Champion.
Verstappen โขhad stated that Red Bull’s current position in the championship โคis dueโ to โคthe failures of others,โ asserting, “We’re โstill in the game because of other people’sโข failures, notโค because ofโค what โwe’ve done.โค Ifโ we’d been in a position with a carโข as dominant as they had, the championship would have been over aโค long time ago.”
Norris,โค while acknowledging โVerstappen’s accomplishments, was โquick to dismiss the โsentiment. “Max can say what he wants. โฃHe’s earned thatโ right byโค winning four world titles. โI have a lot of respect for him and โan achievement like thatโ will โbe aโข great credit to anyone,” Norris began. โ
He continued, highlighting a โขperceived disconnect between Verstappen’s โคsuccessโค and his understanding of the โขbroader competitive landscape. “He’s accomplished an awful lot-more than โคmost people even dream of.Max has a very โgood graspโฃ of a lot ofโ things, but there are areasโ he doesn’t have a clueโ about.”
Norris โฃcharacterized Verstappen’s comments as typical ofโข Red Bull’s communication style. “It’s a โขtypical Redโข Bull aggressiveโ style of expression.They talk nonsense very frequently enough. So it depends โขwhether you want to listen toโฃ itโ and discuss itโ endlesslyโ – and you journalists like to do that – or doโ what our team does. We justโข put โour headsโ down and focus on our work.”
Concluding his response, โNorris โคsuggested Verstappen’s words wereโ a psychological โขtactic. “Maybe he’s trying to psychologically attack us, โฃbut he hasn’t succeeded so far, although he’sโ still trying.”