2 weeks Ago By Sam Cooper
Martin Brundle has told Lando Norris he needs to stop “putting the welcome mat out” for Max Verstappen following the US Grand Prix. While there have been plenty of opinions about their latest battle, Brundle went back to the start of the race where polesitter Norris allowed Verstappen in on the inside. The nature of the first corner at the Circuit of The Americas means that whoever is leading has the propensity to slam the door shut on their opponent.
Norris though did not take that option and having got to the corner first, he left enough room for Verstappen to squeeze in. The result was Verstappen and Norris tangling while Charles Leclerc was able to take the lead and ultimately go on to win the race. After Norris lost more ground in the title race, Brundle told him he must be more ruthless if he wants to beat Verstappen.
“Lando needs to stop putting the welcome out on the inside, because Max Verstappen does not need a second invitation,” Brundle said on Sky F1. “He doesn’t need a first invitation to go up the inside if you’re leaving a car’s width. “He’s a street fighter.
He races hard. He games the regulations, he games them hard and he gains them well and he sometimes pushes the limit.” On the later incident which saw Norris handed a five-second penalty, Brundle believes Verstappen was the overtaker in that situation and should have left more room.
“The track is the fundamental issue. It’s too easy to run wide,” the long-time pundit said. “In my view, Norris was substantially past Verstappen so it was Verstappen that became the overtaker into that corner and should have given Norris more space on the outside.
F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates “It’s a slam dunk. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Lando should have given that place back, and McLaren should have asked him to give that place back immediately.
“The regulations simply don’t work. There are two reference points that they’re fundamentally based on those guidelines. “One is position, relative to somebody else’s mirror.
You can barely see your own mirror in those things, let alone somebody else’s. “But also there’s a hard reference point of an imaginary apex. Now, where is the apex? Turn 1 in Austin is a really good example.
The apex is actually about three quarters of the way around the corner. “So you can’t have a set of guidelines that are based on an imaginary point, especially as the cars are not necessarily on the inside.” Read next: FIA stewards support emerges in behind-the-scenes insight after US GP controversy.
