Lando Norris “elbows out” advice to combat Max Verstappen “intimidation factor”
“Various drivers, including Hamilton, said ‘you think differently when you race Max’"
Lando Norris has been advised to get his “elbows out” at Silverstone if another battle with Max Verstappen kicks off.
Norris was left fuming with his friend Verstappen after contact at the Austrian Grand Prix last weekend ended his promising race prematurely.
It was - not for the first time - an uncompromising moment of driving for Verstappen who was hit with a 10-second time penalty, but walked away from Austria with his championship lead extended from second-placed Norris.
“We’ve seen over the past few years that Max is a tough racer, an uncompromising racer, in the same way that Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna were before,” Karun Chandhok told Sky Sports.
“Lando will be mindful of that.
“There’s no doubt that, in that certain incident, Max was the one who moved and deviated from his line. He moved to the left-hand side.
“But he’s not the first to do that. We saw in the previous year with Carlos Sainz and Max.
“We saw it with Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. They avoided contact.
“It felt like a clumsy touch. Max was trying to squeeze Lando out, to make sure Lando didn’t get a run for the next corner. I think that’s what happened.
“Max deservedly took the blame and the penalty.
“It’ll be in the back of Lando’s mind, the next time they go wheel to wheel. Does he have to give Max more room than other drivers?”
The question was posed: does Red Bull’s Verstappen intentionally seek an ‘intimidation factor’ against his close rivals?
Chandhok answered: “I think he’s achieved that.
“Various drivers, including Hamilton, said ‘you think differently when you race Max’.
“That’s what Senna, Schumacher and the greats did. They get into the minds of their rivals even before they come side by side, wheel to wheel.”
Chandhok said about their scrap last weekend: “This was different to Lewis at Silverstone in 2021 when he put the nose in, and said ‘I am not giving in’.
“It was two drivers trying to get on the same bit of tarmac in an awkward way. It was a clumsy tangle of the rear wheel.”
Crucially McLaren driver Norris has been told to fight fire with fire at this weekend’s F1 British Grand Prix.
Chandhok said: “Lando was a genuine contender for victory in the last three races, but hasn’t won in the last three races.
“A home victory at the British Grand Prix? Going wheel to wheel with Max? I expect to see his elbows out a bit more.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
