“Don’t ever say that again” - Lando Norris jokes about Max Verstappen not being his ‘bff’

Lando Norris said Max Verstappen was not his best friend forever (bff) while speaking to media (including Sportskeeda) after the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP. The McLaren driver also said the Dutchman and Red Bull have done an exceptional job and that it would be difficult to take them on immediately in 2024.

Known to be close friends, both Norris and Verstappen have frequently talked about the close camaraderie they share. Earlier in the year, Lando Norris had even suggested that he did not mind partnering with the Dutchman at some point in his career.

Norris has also come out in support of the Dutch champion whenever the latter has been criticised. Similarly, Verstappen has often called the Brit one of his closest friends in the sport.

Asked by Sportskeeda if he would be able to beat his ‘bff’ in 2024 if McLaren were competitive again, Lando Norris joked:

“He’s not my bff. Don’t ever say that again.We respect each other and we get along, kind of friends in a way. But that's it. We just have a lot of respect for one another. It as simple as it gets.”

On a more serious note, Norris talked about how tough it would be for any team to challenge Red Bull.

“He’s doing a good job, he’s clear like today, even Perez was so much quicker than us," he said. "Their car is phenomenal, Red Bull are doing an amazing job, they’ve done that for the last few years. So for anyone to catch them is going to be a massive step."

"They are not just quicker in pace, they’re a lot better on degradation like they showed today," he added. "And Max is one of the best drivers and so it's a tough combination to beat. But I feel like we are getting what we need to begin to challenge."

Given the dominance of Red Bull and Verstappen, Lando Norris feels that it would be difficult to beat their combination right away. He said they’ve been developing their car over two seasons, which makes it slightly more difficult for their rivals to catch up.

However, Norris also feels that McLaren have made significant progress and can soon challenge consistently at the front. He said the RB19 was not just quick but also had lesser tyre degradation compared to its rivals, an area the MCL60 lacked in. One of the weaknesses they have tried ironing out is their lack of speed in the slow speed corners.

The Woking squad began the year at the bottom of the standings, with both drivers even becoming back markers in some races. However, after the summer break, a few developments on their car turned around their performance significantly. The Papaya Orange squad finished fourth in the team standings and Lando Norris scored his best ever tally of 205 points.

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Lando Norris says McLaren lacked overall pace in Abu Dhabi

Lando Norris further said the McLaren MCL60 lacked pure pace in the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP, where they were significantly uncompetitive in the slow speed corners.

The Brit said they were expecting to be quicker with dropping ambient temperatures at dusk. However, he felt he had to push extensively to chase Mercedes or Ferrari, which resulted in excessive tyre degradation.

He also said it was diffcult to clear George Russell or snatch a podium from him, as the tyre degradation on both medium and hard compounds resulted in a drop in pace.

Asked if their race pace wasn’t as good as their qualifying pace, Lando Norris said:

“Not completely, I think the places we were struggling were clear, just the very slow speed corners, turn 5, turn 6 & 7 and 13, 14. I mean I am saying almost every corner here but they’re the places we know we are not strong enough, which is slow speed. To be honest we were expecting a little bit more just with cooler temperatures and things like that.

"We expected our race pace to be a little stronger than we had today. We are definitely missing something because of the lack of pace; I had to push very hard to keep up with the Mercedes and with the Ferrari. And when I did that I destroyed the tyres very quickly. So I was in a tough battle to win, but I did what I could and tried as hard as I could. Not quite enough today, but we finished ahead of Aston which was our main target."

Asked if he could have pushed more for a podium finish or chase George Russell, Norris replied:

“It’s tough, it wasn’t like the Ferrari and Mercedes cleared off. It was you know if I stayed ahead of the Mercedes in the pitstop, could I have stayed just ahead of him because of dirty air and things? Potentially. Just a little bit unlucky at times, but George did a good job, Mercedes did a good job. Not taking anything away from them.

"I think we just didn’t have the pace, we didn’t have the pace we wanted and to match their pace, I had to push too hard. And then I degraded like with the medium even with both sets of hard tyres. Pace was pretty much the main thing today we lacked."

Lando Norris started the race in fifth place on the grid while his teammate Oscar Piastri started the race in third place. The Brit finished the race in fifth place, but his Australian teammate dropped down to eighth.

Having had a diffcult start to the year, McLaren were one of the few teams to progress significantly through the season. A majority of their points tally came in the races after the summer break.

The Papaya Orange squad had only scored 29 points in the first nine races of the season. On home ground at the British GP, they scored their first significant points total of 30, after which they ended the season with a total of 302 points.