Lando Norris has broken his silence on the fallout between Max Verstappen and George Russell before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Verstappen claimed after the Qatar Grand Prix that he had 'lost all respect' for Russell following an incident during qualifying for that race.
The Dutchman was given a one-place grid penalty after the stewards deemed he had driven excessively slowly on an outlap.
Russell, who was directly behind him at the time before overtaking the Red Bull, described his move as 'super dangerous', and both drivers were summoned to the stewards.
Advert
Verstappen later fumed: "I just thought it was ridiculous how he tried to force a penalty on me. And I was heavily p***ed off at him for that."
The four-time champion doubled down on his comments in his pre-race press conference before the season-ending Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen claimed that Russell 'lied' to the stewards and added: "I found his behaviour really unacceptable."
Russell stayed silent about his claims prior to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but participated in a 15-minute written press conference session on Thursday and unleashed a verbal tirade at Verstappen and Red Bull.
He called his rival a 'bully' and claimed: "Saturday night [in Qatar], he said he's going to purposefully go out of his way to crash into me and, quote, 'Put me on my f***ing head in the wall'.
"I'm not going to sit here and accept it. People have been bullied by Max for years now and you can't question his driving abilities [but] he cannot deal with adversity."
SPORTbible has contacted Red Bull Racing and its parent company for comment.
Now, Norris has addressed the matter - and made his feelings perfectly clear with his answer.
When asked if Verstappen had tried to intimidate drivers this season, he told Sky Sports: "I hope it [the Verstappen/Russell argument] doesn't get smoothed out! I hope they stay fighting and arguing, because it's amusing to watch.
"But it depends. Every driver has their own way of doing things. I don't think Max tries to intimidate. He just says the truth in his opinion.
"A lot of the time he just says the truth about things, and nowadays people don't like to hear the truth in life. But he's honest and he just gives his opinion. And I'm completely fine with that.
"Sometimes I agree with his opinion, sometimes I disagree. But that's life, that's what happens in life. And we move on.
"I respect Max a lot, I respect George a lot. But I don't mind if they lose respect for one another!"
Topics: Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Formula 1, George Russell
Ryan Smart