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Max Verstappen says Lando Norris “created” their Japanese Grand Prix qualifying near-miss by not being “respectful” enough, while Norris believes the Formula 1 championship leader should get a penalty.
Norris was trying to pass Verstappen at 130R during their respective outlaps at the start of Q3, but Verstappen’s RB18 snapped hard to the left as the Dutchman hit the throttle, forcing Norris to cut the track to avoid a collision.
Verstappen, who went on to take pole position, waved his hand in apology towards Norris on that run’s cooldown lap, but was less magnanimous in the post-qualifying press conference, believing Norris had played his part in setting up the incident.
"Sorry mate" 🥺
Max waves to Lando to apologise the next time round
The incident will be investigated after the session#JapaneseGP #F1 https://t.co/gKGKh0Luhr pic.twitter.com/spM8IgrZqg
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 8, 2022
“We were all lining up to try and create a gap to everyone, and somehow he still wanted to get me into the chicane, but I was at the point of accelerating [for the flying lap],” said Verstappen.
“But I was on very cold tyres, so I had like a little moment and that’s why he had to drive around me.
“But, if you’re just a bit more respectful then everyone is anyway already lining up, I don’t think anyone is trying to pass into that last chicane.
“So basically by trying to pass me you create that kind of problem.”
The incident is under investigation, with both Verstappen and Norris due to report with the stewards at 5pm local time.
For his part, Norris suggested Verstappen’s action was a deliberate attempt to block him from getting track position.
He told his McLaren team on the radio: “Come on, what does it look like? Of course, he just tried to go left and down into me.”
“It was quite clear he tried to do that, yeah. There’s no rule on doing what you can do, but doing what he did is something that you cannot do,” Norris subsequently told Sky Sports F1.
“People always overtake before the last corner, as much as everyone [might not] always agrees to it, everyone always does it.
“So it doesn’t matter, he probably would have done the same if he was in my situation, but I wouldn’t have swerved at him if I was in his situation.”
He then said he would “for sure” expect a penalty if he was the one in Verstappen’s shoes.
The view from Norris’s onboard from the session made it look as though Verstappen made a deliberate chop to cover off the McLaren – something that would likely carry a severe sanction giving the closing speed – but the outside view from the world feed suggested there is a lot of credibility to Vestappen’s explanation, his snap indeed looking a simple result of uncontrolled wheelspin.
