Beyond friendship: Norris's strategic approach to racing Verstappen

Last season, Lando Norris went wheel-to-wheel with his good friend Max Verstappen on several occasions, but the Briton explained why in the heat of a battle he never defended hard against the Red Bull driver.

McLaren’s resurgence last summer carried Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri into the upper tier of the field and even provided the former with a few opportunities to  lead the Red Bull charger, as was the case in the opening laps of the British Grand Prix last July at Silverstone.

However, Norris never attempted to force the issue against his Red Bull rival and friend, and even appeared to facilitate the latter’s overtaking at times while he would oppose a much stronger defense against other drivers such as Lewis Hamilton.

Norris dismissed silly speculation that his lower level of resistance against Verstappen reflected his friendship with the three-time world champion, insisting that his defensive maneuvers are tailored to individual opponents.

The McLaren driver maintained that excessive defense against Verstappen was often futile and even counterproductive. Instead, he strategically assesses the situation and determines the most effective course of action.

• Read also: Norris insists self-criticism helps him achieve more

“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,” Norris explained, quoted by Motorsport.com.

“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.”

Indeed, the efficiency of Red Bull’s RB19 procured much lower tyre degradation levels compared to rival teams’ designs.

“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,” added Norris.

“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. I only would have hurt my ability to extend a stint or only compromised my own race more than benefitted it.

“I think that was just one of the cases where I’ve done more often good than not on choosing my battles.”

Norris reiterated that his close friendship with Verstappen “couldn’t have anything less to do” with his reluctance to take on the 54-time Grand Prix winner.

“Would I have loved to be more forceful and put on a better defence?” he said. “Absolutely. Like, why would I not? I love racing and that is what I want to do.

“I don’t want to ever give a position up to anyone! Especially not Max!

“People on the outside are too quick to judge again why I wouldn’t [race Verstappen hard],” he added.

“[They say], ‘ah it’s because he’s friends with Max’ and all of that stuff. Which couldn’t have anything less to do with it.

“If anything, it makes me want to beat someone more if I’m friends with them than if I’m not.”

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