Verdict: Who was at fault for Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ dramatic Austrian GP clash?

Who was to blame for dramatic Lando Norris and Max Verstappen clash?

Michelle Foster: Max Verstappen doesn’t like to lose, even with seven wins already on the board for this season, he was not giving up on number eight and would rather run Lando Norris off the road than back down.

Having built up what looked like a race-winning lead in the first stint where he was over seven seconds up the road, tyre troubles, a slow pit stop and a lock-up allowed Norris to close right up on Verstappen’s rear wing.

And from there the frustrations boiled over as it looked for the first time this year that Verstappen was really not enjoying his new-found rivalry with Norris. The McLaren driver divebombed, as Verstappen put it, and Verstappen moved under braking, as Norris put it. And bam, they collided.

Norris went attempt number five, or was it six, and Verstappen defended by clearly moving over on the McLaren driver. But with Norris holding his line, the two collided in an accident that was 100% Verstappen’s fault.

Bring on the popcorn because this is just the beginning…

Henry Valantine: Max Verstappen’s previous form has gone against him here, in the sense that he’s not exactly been known for letting others past easily in years gone by.

While that’s an admirable quality, there is a limit – and while in this instance I think it was more of a racing incident than others in which he has been involved in years gone by (thinking of forcing Hamilton off track at Interlagos in 2021 as an example, not even getting close to the apex as they both went off), this time around Norris had his own fair share of “divebombs”, as Verstappen put it.

Uncompromising? Yes. On the limit? Definitely. Beyond it? I’m not so sure on this one – put me on the fence this time.

Sam Cooper: Minor moments can have a major impact in motorsport and that was the case in Austria.

Had Norris and Verstappen not made contact, we would be hearing how this is the kind of close racing we want to see, the kind we haven’t seen since 2021 but such is the way that the close racing boiled over into contact.

For what it’s worth, I do think it’s Verstappen’s fault. Rather than just shutting the door, he slammed Norris’ foot in it as they approached the corner and he again pushed him wide as they went round.

Verstappen also moved under braking, something outlawed by the rules, but what I don’t agree with is that the result should dictate the penalty as McLaren boss Andrea Stella seemed to suggest. Yes, it had worser consequences for Norris than it did for Verstappen, but Verstappen himself was on the wrong end of that situation at Silverstone in 2021.

For me, it was a collision that happens at the high end of F1 and although it was Verstappen’s fault, cries that it is “typical Verstappen” are uncalled for.

Thomas Maher: While Verstappen was given the blame for the incident by Race Control, I don’t think the guilt lies solely with him.

It’s only taken about 100 viewings of the replays to reach my verdict but, in my eyes, Verstappen left just about enough room for Norris on his outside and didn’t change direction in an unduly dangerous or unfair manner.

He had been playing fast and loose with his movement under braking, true, but only to the point of playing dangerously close with the line of acceptability – but I don’t think he crossed that line.

Norris hardly did anything wrong either but found himself being squeezed out at a point where he believed Verstappen would have already started to turn – meaning he didn’t move out to give himself more space.

But Verstappen wasn’t that predictable, and it resulted in the contact that led both to their damage.

It’s a moment of inevitability that’s been brewing for a while, and I believe Norris needs to start viewing Verstappen as an enemy in order to make the psychological step he must make if he wants to be an elite.

Verstappen drove with the extreme toughness that has always been his hallmark and while on plenty of occasions he has been at fault, I would have put this one more at 55/45 with the Dutchman only marginally more at fault than the British driver.

Elizabeth Blackstock: If I have to pick a driver on whom to lay the blame, then the primary fault lies with Max Verstappen.

The Red Bull racer has made something of a career out of his bold maneuvers and aggressive tactics, and as Lando Norris dogged him in the closing stage of the Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen seemed to regress to a younger version of himself that can’t quite handle the heat.

His ample dominance is under threat. He was frustrated at both the hard tires he was on and the pit stop that gave them to him. He was frustrated at losing his otherwise impenetrable lead. And Lando Norris was pestering him with sloppy, half-baked moves that the McLaren driver couldn’t see through to the end.

I’ve already argued that Norris’ strategy in those final laps was poor, and that he’d have been better suited to hold off on making a move until he knew one would stick. However, I don’t think that means the pendulum of blame needs to swing too far his way.

Rather, Verstappen is feeling the heat, and now he’s losing his cool. His driving in Austria became an erratic echo of a less-refined Verstappen, and his hard driving put his RB20 and Norris’ MCL38 in jeopardy.