Smart thinking, not friendship, behind Verstappen F1 defence approach

The McLaren driver gets on well with Verstappen and, amid the surge that his squad enjoyed over the second half of last season, found himself sometimes battling for position with his Red Bull rival.

But the way that he has sometimes appeared to make passes easy for Verstappen, rather than be ultra tough with his defence, prompted some observers to question his approach. And in particular, having shown himself willing to race harder against other drivers like Lewis Hamilton, ask whether he treated Verstappen differently because they were good friends.

These criticisms are something Norris has been aware of, but he insists that anyone linking his attitude to racing Verstappen to their friendship is wide of the mark.

Instead, he says that his choice of defensive tactics varies between drivers because he knows there are some rivals where there is no gain to be had by being super robust in trying to hold them back.

Speaking to Motorsport.com about his approach, Norris said: “I think one of those areas where I’ve done a good job this year is by reading the situations that I’m in, knowing who I’m racing against and who I’m not.

“I know it’s a race at the end of the day, but the likelihood of losing a position to Max in Austin, and how I raced Lewis versus how I raced Max, in the end I kind of knew I was going to lose positions to both of them.

“That’s not a bad attitude, that’s just being realistic and honest about the situations I’m in.

“The chance of keeping Max behind was basically zero. He was way too quick, his tyre degradation – I don’t know if anyone saw this year – was way better than everyone.”

Norris is clear that defending hard against a rival you know will pass you at some point achieves nothing – and can actually hurt you because it can stress tyres more.

“There’s no point ruining the longevity of your race trying to race one person that has a 99% chance of beating you because he’s in a quicker car,” he said.

“When Lewis overtook me [in Austin] it was with six laps to go or something. He was on way fresher tyres, so still maybe not the best reason to race against him, but there was a lot more of a chance of keeping him behind potentially than there ever was with Max.

“If I’d raced Max, I would have used a lot more tyres because he was a lot quicker….