Is a friendship between Norris and Verstappen still possible? Jos comments
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris never made a secret of the fact that they were good friends. That friendship was put to the test last season. The pair were both title contenders and battled it out on track multiple times. Speaking to Formula 1, Jos Verstappen stated that he believes it is not easy to maintain friendships at such stressful times.
Plenty of people have had their say about the battles between the pair in recent months. Close calls in Austria, Austin and Mexico led to heated debate. In each case, they indicated that their close friendship did not suffer from the on-track battle, which led to controversy more than once. Jos Verstappen, a former F1 driver himself and thus familiar with the pressures of the sport, thinks this is clever.
'Max is very mature'
"It becomes more difficult, I think. Of course, it was about the world title at stake for a long time. Max knows it is, he is also fairly easy-going about it. He knows well the dividing line between the mutual relationship beside and on the track. He is very mature in that."
According to Verstappen senior, times have changed, and so have the relationships between drivers. Jos Verstappen also sees that the drivers interact in their spare time, as they have known each other from karting for so many years. "If I look at my time in Formula 1, I didn't have any friends. At least not in a way that I kept in touch with them afterwards. Not at all even." He concluded.
Battles on track between the pair will most likely come again next year. After a tough fight in 2024, it's expected to be even tighter in 2025.
This article was written in collaboration with Toby Nixon