“They’re both going for the win” - Alex Albon feels Lando Norris and Max Verstappen’s racing incident will impact their relationship

Alex Albon believes the tensions between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen after their Austrian GP incident could impact their rapport. Speaking to media including Sportskeeda ahead of the 2024 British GP, the Williams driver felt that both drivers reacted instinctively on the track as any driver would in the same situation.

Given that Lando Norris and Max Verstappen share a close camaraderie, the incident between the duo at the Austrian GP led to an uproar in the public and media domain. Most non-British media expected the duo to resolve tensions between them and move on from it. On media day on Thursday, there were several attempts by various British media to get a fiery reaction in defense of their driver. However, most drivers including Lewis Hamilton refrained from commenting and disagreed with the reactions after the incident.

Albon, who has known both drivers, felt that the incident is bound to repeat in the future, particularly with McLaren chasing Red Bull closely for the title. Lando Norris however has defused a bit of the narrative and regrets some of his reactions in the media pen after the incident. He felt that the Dutchman was a friend and did not need to give an apology over the incident and ruled it as hard racing. Unlike the case of the Dutchman with Hamilton, the McLaren driver has been one of the more genuine friends the Red Bull champion has on the grid. Empathizing with the duo, the Williams driver felt any driver in that situation would have done what the duo did.

Asked by Sportskeeda if the incident could impact the rapport between Lando Norris and Verstappen, Albon replied:

“Well I think they're both going for the win so it's going to be emotional. They are in the moment, they are fighting for victories. So I think it will have an impact to their relationship to some degree. Especially as McLaren are going to be fighting more and more for that victory, I think you may get the same action this weekend and for the rest of the year. So it's just natural when two drivers keep finding themselves in the same positions, first and second, then they are going to have more chances to bang wheels.”

Asked if he was surprised Norris raced as hard as he did against Verstappen, the Williams driver said:

“No not at all. Every driver would. I don’t know any driver who would, given the chance to win a race, be Max and Lando and kind of not put it on the line. We are all very similarly programmed.”

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Alex Albon ruled the Austrian GP action between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris as a 'racing incident'

Alex Albon believes the incident between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris was a racing incident and no more than hard racing. Analyzing the situation the duo put themselves in, he felt that the incident was blown out of proportion and was a field day for the media. While there were insinuations from the media to gaslight the fanbases, most of the grid shared the same opinion as the Wiliams driver. However, the Dutchman received a public bantering.

The Thai-born driver felt that the initial move by Verstappen of moving under braking could have been given a warning but not a penalty. But he felt that how Lando Norris attacked on the outside despite the space given would inevitably lead to contact.

Asked what he felt about the incident between Norris and Verstappen, Albon replied:

“It is aggressive racing but I think it is blown out of proportion in my opinion. I think it was questionable more with the first move where Max moved under braking. I don’t think he moved under braking when they made contact. That was more just heading towards a straight line, going more towards the left. But definitely more of you guys (media) enjoying it than I think the reality of it. It was just pure racing, hard racing.”

Asked if he agreed with the stewards' decisions on not penalizing the ‘moving under braking’, the Williams driver said:

“I think there is a, they tried to say it’s consistent ruling and we don’t take the incident as the penalty factor, but it clearly does. Because theres a lot of instances whereby the layers of the rulebook, things are marginal or not legal. But if there’s no contact being made, it's very often not talked about. And if it is, there’ll be a warning and it isn’t an instant penalty. When I see the racing, when I saw the actual incident itself, to me it was just a racing incident.

“I think Lando went for that space on the outside, Max thought there was enough space for Lando to go. On paper there was, but the way Lando attacked the outside line and went so aggressively to it, you cant move that much in that position. You are stuck in a straight line. Just because if you turn out of the way, you’ll end up locking up. It was a racing incident.”

The reactions of Andrea Stella and Lando Norris after the incident coerced the narrative against Verstappen. The McLaren team principal felt that the Dutchman’s aggressive style of driving in 2021 with Hamilton, wasn’t penalized more harshly and led to the one in Austria. The McLaren driver wanted an apology for the incident, but the Red Bull driver maintained restraint in commenting or fuelling the narrative into a negative one. He was clear that his priority was to speak to the Brit after the incident, once the situation had calmed down. In the press sessions later in the day, both claimed to have had a conversation and sorted it out, an opposite scenario from 2021.