Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ Austrian GP clash remains the talk of the F1 town! When the reigning World Champion made contact with the McLaren racer at the Red Bull Ring, a wave of controversies cropped up. The incident led to Norris’ retirement from the race and the FIA stewards penalizing Verstappen for causing the collision. Now, Zak Brown, the McLaren CEO, has given his opinion about what went down in Austria last Sunday. The 52-year-old has stated that he has no hard feelings towards the current Championship leader.

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ on-track contact happened during the last part of the Austrian GP. The Red Bull driver was leading the pack when Norris came up from behind and tried to usurp him. While defending his spot, Verstappen left very little space for the McLaren car behind him resulting in the clash and leading to heavy damage to MCL38. In the end, Norris retired from the race, and called Max Verstappen’s drive ‘reckless’ and ‘desperate’.

Currently running second on the World Championship standings, each point at every race is crucial for Norris. At a time like this, his retirement from the Austrian GP can cost him dearly in the long run. And since it happened all because of Verstappen, McLaren’s team principal, Andrea Stella, bashed the Dutchman. He said, “The entire population in the world [knows] who is responsible – except for a group of people.” However, Stella also talked about FIA’s defaults in policing Verstappen during his previous incidents. “But the problem behind it is that if you don’t address these things honestly, then it will come back,” he continued.

Now, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has spoken along the same lines as Andrea Stella. The American business mogul dragged the FIA for not being strict with Max Verstappen. He said, “You know, I think the responsibility is on the stewards to be more consistent in their policing of the regulations. I don’t blame Max. He’s driving at the limits. He’s a World Champion. So, till someone tells him what he’s doing isn’t correct, I wouldn’t expect him to drive any differently.” On the other hand, Max Verstappen took a swipe at Andrea Stella by simply dismissing his entire statement. What did the Red Bull prodigy say?

Max Verstappen rejects Andrea Stella’s stance with a single sentence

Even the FIA has agreed that Max Verstappen made a risky move while defending against Lando Norris in Austria. This is why they slapped him with a 10s time penalty for causing a collision. When Andrea Stella said the stewards should have shown similar strictness during Max’s previous collisions against other racers, such as Lewis Hamilton, the Dutchman dismissed the fact. At an interview leading up to the British GP, a journalist asked for the Red Bull lion’s comments on Stella’s remark. Max simply said, “I don’t agree with it.”

Max Verstappen might not agree with him, but Andrea Stella has gotten support for his statement from his team’s CEO Zak Brown. However, Lewis Hamilton, surprisingly, has not uttered a word on the whole Max vs Lando fiasco. It is no news that the Briton is familiar with fighting against Verstappen for the World Championship, but he has still chosen to keep quiet. Seeing this, Norris mocked him by claiming that the Mercedes racer would have spoken up if it were 2-3 years back.

Speaking of Lewis Hamilton‘s take on Norris’ ongoing feud with Verstappen, the Briton was asked for his advice to the McLaren driver on how to handle Max. To this, the 39-year-old said the two have already been dueling on the tracks since their junior racing days. Thus, he did not have any wise words to share with Norris.

Why is Hamilton avoiding this drama even though he is one of Verstappen’s most vicious rivals? Tell us your opinions in the comments below.