Max Verstappen hits back at McLaren comments as Lando Norris ‘injury’ detailed – F1 news round-up

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix.

Happy Friday, everybody. We made it. If you missed any of the key F1 news action from the day, we’ve got you covered right here.

Unfortunately we have to wait another week until the action gets back underway at Imola, but that doesn’t mean we have any less to bring you – far from it. So, without further ado…

Max Verstappen responds to Zak Brown’s Adrian Newey talk

After Zak Brown claimed Adrian Newey might be the “first domino to fall” within Red Bull and later claimed McLaren had been receiving plenty of CVs from Red Bull staff members in Miami, Max Verstappen is choosing to ignore the hype Brown is creating around his team.

“He obviously wants to stir things up,” said Verstappen. “For us as a team, we can’t do anything with comments like that.

“From his point of view, I understand it of course, because everyone is trying to attract our people and that is completely normal in the world of Formula 1 as well.

“But I’m not really interested in those things either. I see the headlines, but I don’t even click on them.”

Kevin Magnussen not interested in helping Oliver Bearman

While Kevin Magnussen is not contracted beyond the end of the year yet, should he stay at Haas, Oliver Bearman is looking like a strong candidate to join the team next season.

He is slated to take part in six FP1 sessions for the team this year and with Nico Hulkenberg having already signed for Sauber for 2025, they could end up being team-mates.

But if that is the case, the teenage driver shouldn’t expect too much of a leg-up – though that could perhaps be expected, given the ruthless nature of the grid.

“I’m not really here to take care of young kids, you know? I do that at home,” Magnussen said, when asked if he’d be willing to lend Bearman a hand.

“So, hopefully, the guy we have in the car will be competent, professional, and consistent like Nico has been, and we’ll see if I’ll be in the other car.”

Martin Garrix sheds light on his perspective of Lando Norris’ ‘injury’

When Lando Norris’ nose went viral last week, his friend, the DJ Martin Garrix, has now explained what happened from his perspective – and had initially worried people thought he had broken Norris’ nose when in fact, things were nowhere near as bad as they seemed.

“Everyone made it crazier than it was,” he told Virgin Radio Dubai.

“There was a glass that was broken on the boat and we were partying all the time and he took a sip from the glass, and the upper part gave him a small cut on his nose.

“But because of where he cut himself, it was bleeding a lot. Everyone thought I broke his nose or something, which was not what happened.

“We had bandaids to put on the nose but very quickly he turned into like a mummy and then someone took a photo, and that photo went viral. The whole world saw that photo thinking it was crazy bad but luckily it was only a little scratch.”

Exclusive: Thierry Boutsen on Williams’ ‘big, big challenge’ to get back to top of F1

We spoke to three-time Grand Prix winner Thierry Boutsen about the challenges Williams face to get back to the front of Formula 1, having been away for so long.

He referenced the changes McLaren have made in their quest to get back to race-winning form, and coming from the back of the field, Williams have a huge task ahead of them – even with the changes team principal James Vowles has already implemented.

“It’s very difficult, in a way that it will take time,” he told PlanetF1.com in an exclusive interview.

“In Formula 1, you don’t learn it in a fortnight. You need a lot of time, a lot of years to understand F1 and be able to be strong.

“It’s a big, big, big challenge. If you don’t have this from the 1000 people, if you don’t have everybody giving the best of themselves, it’s even more difficult.

“[Vowles] has got a very, very difficult task in front of him and I wish him all the best to succeed.”

Fred Vasseur asked about ‘more relaxed’ management style

When it was put to Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur that his ‘less hostile’ management style compared to some of his peers may be paying off in the Scuderia’s recruitment drive, in typical Vasseur fashion, he responded with a big laugh.

“You have to ask the question to the people of the company if the management is friendly or not!” He joked.

“But no, I don’t want to lose energy for the wrong topic, I think we have a lot to do internally.

“We have to improve, we have to recruit, we have to develop the car – we have a huge amount of work on the table, and I don’t want to lose my energy, my time in my budget to fight with my colleagues, that is not my approach at all.”