Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were questioned on their friendship after an incident in qualifying at the Japanese Grand Prix produced a tense affair between the two drivers. Ted Kravitz ran into the drivers as they made their way to the stewards for a briefing as Verstappen avoided being hit with a penalty for forcing the McLaren star off the track.
The two drivers have been friends for a long time after coming up through karting together and are often seen socialising outside of the sport due to their passion for gaming and sim racing.
But their relationship was brought under question when the Red Bull star appeared to force Norris off the race track at Suzuka during Q2. While it was not intentional, Verstappen pushed too hard on the throttle in an attempt to warm up his tyres, putting him into Norris’ path, and the 23-year-old had to take evasive action by swerving onto the grass.
Verstappen and Norris were summoned to the stewards at 9am (BST) on Saturday (5pm local time) after the F1 officials decided that his near-miss incident with the Briton warranted further investigation after the qualifying session.
READ MORE: Norris fires Verstappen accusation and expects FIA penalty
Sky Sports F1’s pitlane reporter Kravitz was in the right place to catch Verstappen and Norris coming out of the FIA office as they heard the final decision, with the stewards handing a reprimand to Verstappen and avoiding a penalty.
“They are just coming out of the stewards… ah, there’s Max and Lando. Are we all friends, lads? Pole going to be all OK?” he said. Verstappen replied: “We’re always friends! It’s just when you see all the onboards it makes a lot more sense.”
Kravitz then asked: “So they [the stewards] got the whole picture then?”, to which Verstappen responds: “Yeah, they have everything.”
Norris, whose facial expression was difficult to make out due to him wearing a mask, did not look as jovial as his F1 colleague as he parted ways from Kravitz and Verstappen, heading straight into the McLaren motor home.
However, Verstappen took an alternative view and suggested Norris should not have tried to overtake him on their outlap.
“We were on our outlap and we were all lining up to try and create a gap to everyone,” said Verstappen.
“Somehow he still wanted to get me into the chicane, I was at the point of accelerating on very cold tyres so I had a little moment and that’s when he had to go around me.
“If you’re just a little bit respectful… everyone’s already lining up, I don’t think anybody’s trying to pass into that last chicane, so by trying to pass me you create that problem.”
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