Max Verstappen refuses to take blame for Lando Norris crash: ‘I know what I’m doing’
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Max Verstappen refused to fully take the blame for the crash with Lando Norris which saw both men miss out on a race win at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The leading duo were fighting for the lead of the race, with Norris complaining twice about Verstappen moving in the braking zone as he vied for first place.
Then, on lap 64, Norris and Verstappen collided at turn 3 and both sustained punctures, allowing George Russell to come through and win the F1 race at the Red Bull Ring.
Verstappen was handed a 10-second time penalty by the stewards but still finished fifth, while Norris was unable to complete the race due to damage to his McLaren car.
Speaking afterwards, an angry Norris blamed Verstappen for “ruining his race” but Verstappen, in his response, did not take blame for the incident.
“From the outside, it’s hard to see where I brake,” he said.
“In the past, it’s been a complaint. Now, I always move my wheel when I brake - it’s easy to say but I think the guy in the car knows what he’s doing.
On various pundits thinking he was to blame, Verstappen replied: “Everyone can have their opinion, I’m the one driving, best in control! From the outside, it’s easy to judge and comment.
“I felt like these divebombs... one time he went straight, one time I had to go around the sausage [kerb], the shape of the corner provides these kind of issues. It is what it is, it’s never nice to come together.
“I need to look back at how and why we touched, of course we’ll talk about it. It was just unfortunate we touched.
“This incident, this is just one thing. We look at the race, we did a lot of things wrong - strategy and pit stops. The first stint was not too bad, then it became worse and worse.
“We need to look into the car and see what went wrong during the race. “