Chaos in Austria: Verstappen and Norris make their own Drive to Survive
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- Ludo van Denderen
All the way from San Francisco they had come. Father, mother and two young boys of a year ten; the likely oldest wearing a McLaren shirt, the other adorned in a Red Bull Racing outfit. A real battle of brothers, so to speak. One that had also been visible earlier at the Red Bull Ring in the same colours.
"Yes, I saw it!", the elder told enthusiastically, talking louder and louder. "Lando hit Max and then Max went up against Lando! They both had a flat tyre! Yes mum, I saw it! It was to our left, in that corner!"
Netflix feasts on Austrian GP
Like so many Americans, this family had become hooked on Formula 1 thanks to the Netflix series Drive to Survive. The Austrian Grand Prix could just be an episode of the next series: first there was the verbal clash between Jos Verstappen and Red Bull's team boss Christian Horner, on Sunday afternoon there was the on-track clash between the two buddies Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. The makers of the hit series could not have wished for better for next season.
This episode will feature an old-fashioned 'Who did it?' Was it Max Verstappen who raced unfairly and violated the rules of the game too often with his 'moving under braking' - as Norris and his team boss Andrea Stella claimed - or was this a racing incident, as Verstappen and his team boss Christian Horner felt, while it was precisely Norris who was 'drive bombing'?
Friendship at risk between Norris and Verstappen?
In any case, the stewards decided that Verstappen was the one to blame for the confrontation, leaving both top drivers next to the GP victory. With that, this special episode of Drive to Survive with Verstappen and Norris is certainly not over yet. The next few days will show whether the pair can be pals as ever. "They won't play padel tomorrow," Christian Horner predicted on Sunday afternoon in any case.
Max Verstappen assumed that he and Norris will work it all out, "but not tomorrow". Andrea Stella also hopes the friendship between Norris and Verstappen is not irreparably damaged. But there is a condition for that, according to the Italian: "But if the drivers were able to show respect, and if the drivers were able to show integrity and were able to say, ‘Apologies, I overcooked it, I closed too much, I collided, my apologies.’, I think the human relationship can continue."
Mercedes laughing in third in Spielberg
So after a weekend of intrigue, was there no winner at all or someone who returned home feeling good? Of course there was. The people at Mercedes. After a difficult start to the season, the German team finally won another race. Exactly how that long stretch went is surely fodder for a future episode of Drive to Survive. There is a family in San Francisco that is going to feast on that.