Lando Norris’ Crash Becomes Replica of Max Verstappen’s Brash Daniel Ricciardo Accident

After the Red Bull Ring race, Max Verstappen has been making headlines for the wrong reasons. The Dutch driver has now come under fire from several F1 pundits for his driving at the Austrian Grand Prix. On lap 64, after defending the lead from Lando Norris over multiple attempts for the lead, Verstappen ended up making contact with the Briton driver. This incident put Norris out of the race, and Verstappen managed to finish P5 despite the setback.

From Will Buxton to Damon Hill, everyone had something to say about Verstappen’s driving. The defending champion was driving in gray areas as he put Lando Norris at risk of collision multiple times. This dangerous driving was seen as unsporting, and multiple analyses were done. Upon further analysis of the crash, many resemblances to Verstappen’s previous rash driving incidents started to surface. So, let’s take a look at how Austria gave us a glimpse of Verstappen’s past.

Max Verstappen’s Austrian GP incident analysis

Max Verstappen is known to drive pretty comfortably when he is leading a race. But, now that Lando Norris has become much quicker, he has found himself defending his lead over the last few races. Austria must have gotten the best of him, as he made a mistake that led him to not only lose the race but fall several positions behind. However, the fact that he took out Lando Norris from the race has been discussed by everyone.

In the past, Max Verstappen has been known for his aggressiveness on the track. One of his most famous incidents was the one at Baku when Daniel Ricciardo was chasing him for the lead. Max Verstappen was defending his position like he was doing with Norris. In the end, the Dutchman ended up blocking a faster car by getting in its way, which led to contact.

Similarly, when Ricciardo was chasing the current champion back in 2018, Verstappen’s blocking led to Daniel Ricciardo having nowhere to go but into the Dutchman’s car. Many criticized Verstappen’s defense as dangerous and, overall, aggressive, which is something he is hearing again for Austria this year.

After several dodges from McLaren, the Red Bull pushed into a corner quite hard and ended up hitting the MCL38 on lap 64. Both cars drove to the pitlane, but that’s where Norris’ single-seater was retired. Verstappen was given a 10-second penalty, which ultimately did not affect his position on the grid.

While this was an old incident, Sky Sports found another instance of Verstappen’s dangerous driving in their post-race analysis video. So what did Sky Sports find in their analysis?

Max Verstappen’s close call with Charles Leclerc compared to contact with Lando Norris

After the Austrian Grand Prix, Sky Sports released an explanation of what exactly happened between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. Starting from a few laps before the collision, the analyst explained how Verstappen’s defensive moves put Norris in a risky position in the race. Explaining how Norris dodged Verstappen’s car after the surprise change in lane, he stated that the McLaren driver did a good job at avoiding contact.

Despite having some close calls, Norris continued to pressure the race leader in the next few laps. On lap 63, Norris and Verstappen were going wheel-to-wheel into the turn and Norris had a perfect line to drive clear from any contact with Verstappen. This did push the Red Bull out of track limits, but not in the way that Verstappen has done to Charles Leclerc in 2019.

When Ferrari and Red Bull were racing for the race win 5 years ago, Verstappen had pushed Charles Leclerc off the same distance that he went with Lando on the turn. It is also important to note that there was contact between Verstappen and Leclerc; however, there was no penalty issued.

After finally judging that when Verstappen was taking the turn that led to the crash, he did not leave enough space for Norris, the analyst rested his case about racing within a gray area of the rules. With that said, do you think that the 10-second penalty to Red Bull was a fair decision by the FIA? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.