F1 News: Max Verstappen Reacts To Lando Norris’ Surprising Finish At The Saudi Arabia GP
Max Verstappen has reacted to friend and fellow F1 driver Lando Norris ending the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in 7th place.
While Max and Lando are good friends outside of racing, their levels of performance – or rather their cars’ levels of performance – are very different. Verstappen is competing to become the 2022 world champion for a second year in the row, whereas Norris is struggling to keep up with the middle of the pack.
McLaren has had a number of issues since the beginning of the season including overheating and brake issues, leading to both Norris and his Australian teammate Danie Ricciardo missing out on points altogether But last weekend Norris found some incredible performance within him and the car, resulting in a P7 finish that surprised McLaren followers as well as the rest of the grid.
“I’m celebrating a P7 more than Max will celebrate a P1 at the minute,” said Norris talking to the F1 Nation podcast. At this moment Verstappen walked over and interrupted with a smile on his face.
“You finished P7?” he said jokingly. “That’s actually a good result!”
“It’s like a win for me, right?” Norris responded laughing.
“Yeah,” Verstappen replied. “Sorry.”
Before this, Lando was joking that he might be able to get a lift in Verstappen’s Air Max, and questioned the driver on how he could get in on it:
“You have to pay money, like everyone,” Verstappen said.
“DC [David Coulthard] is the birthday boy so he might get a discount.”
He was asked if they partied on the Air Max:
“No, we only have water on board anyway.
“We are really well-behaved professionals…sometimes.”
Lando is now making his way back to his new home in Monaco before the Australian Grand Prix begins the weekend after next.
“I’ve not actually been there that much at the minute,” answered Norris when he was asked how he was enjoying the move.
“A lot of days just preparing for the season and we’ve been away for the last three weeks or so – a few downtime days, one day at McLaren and then off to Australia really on Saturday.”