Nobody is scared of Max Verstappen, says Lando Norris

Alan Baldwin, in ABU DHABI – The only scary thing about Max Verstappen is his speed, according to McLaren's Lando Norris.

Mercedes rival George Russell has accused Red Bull's quadruple world champion of bullying and threatening behaviour in a row that blew up in Qatar last weekend and re-ignited in Abu Dhabi.

Norris, Verstappen's closest title rival this season, has had his own run-ins with the champion but rejected any question of fear.

"I don't think people are scared of Max at all," he said.

"Are people afraid of what probably he's capable of at times, from a speed perspective? Do you go into some sessions and go 'Shit, Max is feeling good this weekend, he's been good at practice, he's going to be mega?' 100%.

"Same as with football teams and any other sport.

"When people are in good form and they're performing well, you're a little bit afraid of what someone's capable of going out and doing from a performance point of view. No one's scared. It just puts you on the limit."

Norris, whose team are on the brink of winning the constructors' title for the first time since 1998, said sometimes drivers were fighting with their hands tied.

Verstappen has led the championship all season while Norris had to try to slash the Red Bull driver's advantage, knowing that any mistake or failure to score would only help his opponent.

The Briton also had the constructors' battle to consider whereas Verstappen was effectively just fighting for himself.

"Sometimes people can't risk giving Max the fight that he needs. Same with me this year," he said.

"He had nothing to lose this season, at all. I was always in the position of I'm the one to lose. If no-one scores points, it's a Max win. That's basically it. I was always in that vulnerable position.

"Hopefully next year we can start off better and things will change from there on."

Norris felt the row between Russell and Verstappen was genuine, with both sticking up for themselves.

Asked if he felt Verstappen was the kind of driver who would put a rival in the wall, as Russell claimed the champion had threatened, Norris took a long pause and then said: "No".

"We're passionate about what we do, so we put everything into it, just as a lot of our team do. You're going to feel let down at times, you're going to feel betrayed at times, you're going to feel like people will have you over," he added.

"It's not anything more than that, it's just two drivers who want to win, that's the moral of the whole story really."

Norris said it would all appear on the Netflix "Drive to Survive" series, and suggested insults between Mercedes and Red Bull bosses Toto Wolff and Christian Horner were mostly for show.

"That's all for Netflix," he grinned. "It's obvious. They love Netflix, all team managers love Netflix."

Reuters