Norris welcomes Verstappen talking ‘nonsense’ over F1 title jibe

Lando Norris said he welcomes title rival Max Verstappen talking “bullshit” about the title clash, but insisted he will remain focused on winning the world championship.

In an interview ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, Verstappen said that if his car had been as competitive as Norris’s McLaren he would have “easily” won this year’s title by now.

Verstappen’s title chances are in jeopardy after finishing fourth in Saturday’s sprint race in Qatar, leaving him 25 points behind Norris.

If Norris beats Verstappen in Sunday’s Grand Prix – the final race of the season – Verstappen will be mathematically eliminated from contention.

Asked about Verstappen’s comments, Norris, who finished third in Saturday’s sprint race, shrugged off the joke.

Norris said, “Honestly, Max is welcome to say whatever he wants.” “He kind of earned the right.

“He’s won four world championships. I have a lot of respect for him and I think that gives a lot of credit to anyone in general.”

“He has achieved an incredible feat that no one would normally dream of achieving.

“Max generally has a good knowledge of a lot of things, but there are also a lot of things he doesn’t know much about. It’s also Red Bull’s way of going about things. It’s this kind of aggressive nature and just talking nonsense most of the time.

“It depends if you want to hear it and talk about it like you (the media) like, or you do what we do as a team, which is just keep your head down, stay focused.

“Maybe he would have done it (win the title at McLaren), but he hasn’t done it yet.”

Although Verstappen finished one place behind Norris in the sprint, the McLaren driver said he barely paid attention to Red Bull and only concentrated on the cars in front.

“I’ve never actually seen him,” Norris said of Verstappen. “I just saw what was ahead, I tried to move forward.

“We came quite close at the beginning, but it was good. No, I didn’t see what happened at the back, it was a long time and there was a lot of pushing and shoving.

“Tomorrow it’s going to be a tough race, it’s not easy to get through here. Very tough, so it’s all about qualifying.”