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The McLaren driver expressed his frustration after battling wheel-to-wheel with the four-time champion at the Miami Grand Prix.
Lando Norris harshly criticized Max Verstappen's driving during the race in Miami, accusing the Dutchman of "ruining his own race" and "not driving very smart".
The driver of McLaren and Red Bull again found himself in an incident situation already in the first lap, which caused Norris to fall to sixth position, after which he managed to come back throughout the race and finish second, and secure another 1-2 victory for the team from Woking.
Meanwhile, Verstappen finished the race as much as 40 seconds behind the winner Oscar Piastri, after his drive was threatened by a fierce fight from the Dutchman, who did not let himself pass so easily.
Norris and Verstappen already had an incident in which the Red Bull driver received a penalty. But that caused a lot of confusion from the Dutchman, who said he couldn't say what he thought about the penalty because he would be penalized again.
This time, the same drivers had their new edition in Miami, where Verstappen started from pole position, with Norris next to him. But the Briton came out on top at the start again.
“[Max] drove aggressively. That's his choice. He ruined his own race. He doesn't drive very smart,” said Norris.
Lando: I pushed hard when I got to second place and there was still a lot to go
The McLaren driver later overtook Verstappen in a maneuver that took both drivers off the track, but the incident was not investigated by the stewards.
Norris now trails Piastre by 16 points in the drivers' standings after the Australian recorded his third consecutive win, his fourth of the season, which has seriously established him as a driver who is making great strides towards his first career title.
Norris claims he did his best to catch his teammate and pushed until the very end.
“I pushed hard when I got to second place and there was still a lot to go — I think 25 or 30 laps,” added the British driver.
“I only stopped pushing in the last four or five laps, but the gap went from almost 10 seconds to three or four, so I pushed hard.”
“I tried the whole race, right up until the very end, I believed throughout the race, but Oscar’s ride… He’s quick to catch, but almost impossible to overtake. I pushed hard. I almost caught him, but there weren’t enough laps.”
English (US)