‘Can’t be friends’ – Ted Kravitz sees two ‘significant developments’ in Verstappen v Norris rivalry

Note the day, June 30th, as Ted Kravitz believes that was the “first day” of the end of the Max Verstappen and Lando Norris friendship.

Good friends prior to Sunday’s 71-lap Austrian Grand Prix, they came to blows on lap 64 of the race as Norris tried to pass Verstappen around the outside of Turn 3.

Ted Kravitz: Can two championship rivals ever be friends? No way

But as the Dutchman jinked to the left to defend the lead, the two touched with both cars suffering rear wheel punctures.

Norris, who retired his car having crawled back to the pits, told the media he would “lose a lot of respect” for Verstappen if the championship leader did not accept the blame for the crash.

For his part, Verstappen called out Norris’ “really late divebombs” before seemingly shrugging off any talk of blame by saying he only defended “little the inside, and then under braking, we touched with the rear tyres.”

Verstappen went on to finish the Grand Prix in fifth place and extended his lead over Norris at the top of the Drivers’ standings to 81 points.

But perhaps the most “significant development”, as Kravitz put it, will be the impact Sunday’s collision has on Norris and Verstappen’s friendship.

Calling the clash a “significant development in the relationship” between Red Bull and McLaren, Kravitz continued in post-race Notebook: “And in the personal relationship between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

“Up until this point, they’ve been mates. They share nights out, they go to longer races on the same plane.

“So is this the end of a beautiful friendship between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris? Will there be no more trips to Ibiza? Will there be no more Martin Garrix concerts? Will there be no more respect?

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“That’s what he [Norris] said, that’s the thing I think. Never mind Martin Garrix and the private jets. Max, Lando said, if he doesn’t apologise or accept responsibility, then I would have lost a bit of respect for him.

“Max was indicating afterwards that he is going to show do no such thing. When he was told of the 10-second penalty for causing the accident by not leaving enough room for Lando as he attacked, Max said, ‘Of course, sure [sarcastically of course], that’s ridiculous.

“And Max’s view on this is worth considering because Max’s view on this is that, ‘Look, if you’re Lando you can send it left, you can send it right, you can harry me into Turn 3 all you want. What do you want me to do?’

“Well, Lando would obviously say, ‘I want you to race cleanly and clearly and leave me a space either way’. Max would counter and say, ‘Well, you forced me off the track’. Lando would counter back and say,’ Well, you moved under braking’. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

“And that’s what Andrea Stella is talking about. When you don’t lay down the rules as to what is and isn’t acceptable with hard-line guidance from the stewards, this is what’s going to happen.

“Now the other question is even if the stewards did lay down the rules and guidance of what it is and isn’t acceptable, would that have avoided something like today? I tend to think probably not. But anyway…

“So Christian Horner said on the radio that Lando did not behave correctly, that Max Verstappen was desperately unlucky. And that’s the thing about Red Bull. That’s why I said to Christian Horner, ‘Was Max Verstappen just not prepared to settle for second?’

“It’s so interesting. Was he not prepared at Red Bull’s home race to settle for second to McLaren? Maybe he wouldn’t have, that’s the point. Maybe he would have got Lando back but it all ended in tears.

“They’re gonna blame each other. And maybe this is the end of the relationship between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

“Can two championship rivals ever be friends? No way. They can’t be sharing all of this stuff and having great times at Ibiza and Martin Garrix, et cetera, et cetera.

“They can’t be friends. It’s not possible. So is today the first day that we saw it?”

His fellow Sky Sports’ pundit Martin Brundle also believes the bromance is over.

“That was going to happen at some point,” said the former F1 driver. “They were getting so aggressive with each other. Max veered left towards him; he squeezed him out. Max will have to take the blame for that one, in my view.

“That was sort of Max reverting to early years Max, getting the razor blades on his elbows into the braking zones.

“I don’t know how those plane journeys, dinners and gaming is going to go between Verstappen and Norris now. That’s taken a turn, hasn’t it?”

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