McLaren’s Lando Norris has stated that he expects to sustain more clashes with Max Verstappen in Formula 1 as the on-track competition between the pair heats up.
Norris has capitalised on McLaren ending up as an established threat to Red Bull in recent months to emerge as Verstappen’s closest challenger in the championship.
However, Norris ended up retiring and losing more ground as the two collided on the approach to Turn 3 with seven laps remaining, with Verstappen getting penalised.
Norris languishes a considerable 78 points behind Verstappen as he has rued squandering numerous opportunities, but he has insisted that he can still claim the title.
With the contest between McLaren and Red Bull well-poised going into the remaining rounds and 2025, Norris is braced to encounter more run-ins with the Dutchman.
“I expect to crash more in the future with different people, with Max,” Norris told RacingNews365.
“Not because it’s an expectation of I expect to crash with them – it’s just those scenarios and circumstances always happen.
“With another five or 10 years in F1, you’re going to have those situations at some point.”
Norris highlighted his discontent with Verstappen’s uncompromising racing approach at the Red Bull Ring but later retracted his comments to the media one week on.
The Briton’s choice to reverse his stance on the clash has prompted some people to question whether he lacks the ruthlessness required to be an F1 world champion.
However, Norris has quashed that notion as he argued that his friendship with Verstappen has no bearing on how he behaves when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing.
“What I do out there [outside of F1] is a different world,” Norris added.
“It’s a different life. It’s a different mentality. I don’t even use the same brain here versus what I’m thinking during the race when I got my helmet on.
“I couldn’t care less if I played padel with someone last week or went out for dinner with someone.
“It doesn’t change what I want to do on track, which is to win. If anything, it makes you want to beat them more, rather than less.
“For me, it’s just two different worlds and what I do away from a track.
“How I act and the people I’m with away from the track couldn’t be any further apart from my mentality of being a racing driver and being inside the car.”
