To few in F1's surprise, Verstappen overstepped in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — There’s a common thread that’s woven into Formula 1‘s ongoing discussions about racing rules: Max Verstappen.

After a week of discussions over how he raced title rival Lando Norris at the U.S. Grand Prix, Verstappen was given a 20-second penalty to serve at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday — won by Carlos Sainz, ahead of Norris and Charles Leclerc — for two different incidents with the McLaren driver.

The first penalty, for forcing Norris off the circuit at Turn 4, was certainly debatable. The stewards deemed near-identical Sergio Pérez incidents with Liam Lawson and Lance Stroll needed no further action, continuing the infuriating theme of inconsistency in decision making from FIA’s maligned stewards. There was no doubt about the second, though.

Verstappen drove off the track at Turn 8 to keep Norris behind him; no attempt to make the corner, just ensuring he emerged ahead. It’s a move out of the Verstappen playbook many in F1 have seen before.

As seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton saw drama unfolding ahead of him on the 11th lap of the race, he had no doubt about who had caused it.

“I could see a group of cars ahead, and I saw a plume of smoke, of dust, and I knew [who] it must have been,” he said after the race. It’s hardly a surprising viewpoint.

The 2021 title fight between Hamilton and Verstappen is legendary and featured three on-track collisions and a number of other flashpoints between the pair. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell referenced that title battle in his own media session, saying: “I’ve not seen anything like that since probably Brazil.”

The reference is to Brazil 2021, when Verstappen drove his car off the race track to keep Hamilton behind in a pivotal race in that year’s championship bout. The move went unpunished at the time and is easy to overlook, as Hamilton passed Verstappen cleanly a lap later and went on to win the race, but clearly it has set a precedent. Verstappen delivered a carbon copy on Norris in Mexico City on Sunday.

“This guy is dangerous,” was Norris’ verdict on the radio immediately afterward. “I just had to avoid a crash. It’s the same as last time.”

Speaking after finishing second, Norris echoed what had been implied in Hamilton’s statement to the media: with Verstappen, the playbook is often the same.

“I knew what to expect,” Norris said. “I didn’t want to expect such a thing, because I respect Max a lot as a driver, but I was ready to expect something like this. This is not very clean driving, in my opinion, but I avoided it and it was a good race.”

Norris elaborated on that viewpoint in the news conference that followed for the top three finishers.

“I think it’s pretty self-explanatory on what happened,” he said. “I go into every race expecting a tough battle with Max. It’s clear that it doesn’t matter if he wins or second, his only job is to beat me in the race. And he’ll sacrifice himself to do that, like he did today.

“But I want to have good battles with him. I want to have those tough battles, like I’ve seen him have plenty of times, but fair ones. It’s always going to be on the line. It’s always going to be tough with Max. He’s never going to make anyone’s life easy, especially mine at this point of the year, but I think today was just … It was not fair, clean racing, and therefore, I think he got what he had coming to him.”

Norris added: “I hope Max acknowledges that he took it a step too far.”

Verstappen did not acknowledge that. Replying to a question about the Norris incident during his post-race media sessions, he said: “We didn’t touch, so, just racing hard.”

Verstappen often follows a similar pattern when it comes to answering questions about his driving style: deny, deny, deny, or deflect, deflect, deflect. He was doing the latter on Sunday.

“The problem is that we are too slow and that’s why I’m being put in those positions, that is my problem,” Verstappen said hours after the race.

The most frustrating thing about Verstappen is that he is good enough that he does not need to blur the lines in order to win races. He can race hard and fair; his aggressive style is why he quickly became one of F1’s most popular drivers after making his debut at 17 years old. He reminded the paddock of that two laps before the Norris incidents, as Sainz passed him through Turns 2 and 3 for the lead of the race. Verstappen squeezed the Ferrari driver as much as he could without making contact.

Yet, when it was Norris in his mirrors two laps later, it’s like a switch was flicked. It’s natural to fight a championship rival harder than anyone else, but Verstappen’s idea of where the line is between fair and unfair appears different to any of his rivals.

He would not be the first driver to have had that trait. Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher were unapologetically willing to overstep the mark in order to win races and championships, and Verstappen appears to encapsulate that mindset more than any other driver in the modern F1 era.

Norris himself has been criticised for being too passive in his fight with Verstappen, but that raises a different question: Is Norris being passive, or is it passive in relation to what Verstappen is willing to do in the same situation?

“I’ve always fought fairly. That’s who I am. That’s who I am as a racer,” Norris said on Sunday. “That’s my way of driving every day. Maybe sometimes I’ve lost out because I’ve been too fair and not aggressive enough. And that’s where I have to find a better balance.”

Late in the race, Hamilton and Russell enjoyed a close-but-fair battle between, leading to the latter to throw shade in the Red Bull driver’s direction.

“It was nice to have the battle, and I mean it’s always good when you fight with Lewis because it’s hard and fair,” Russell said. “At the moment you’re seeing a number of manoeuvres that are just, you know, it’s getting beyond entertaining or beyond sort of sporting, it’s just almost unfair to a point now.”

F1 will return to Brazil next week and the references to 2021 and to Verstappen’s recent string of incidents will once again dominate the headlines. All that chatter does a disservice to what the three-time world champion has achieved this season.

The Dutchman’s style can often be used as a stick to beat him with, but his is a truly special Formula 1 career unfolding. It was clear from the moment Verstappen debuted in 2015 that he was destined for great things, but this year has been a hallmark of how a champion drives.

So often dominant champions are written off as products of a dominant car, but in 2024 Verstappen has done what all the greats manage: he’s won when the car was unbeatable but, crucially, he has delivered time and time again when it wasn’t. Whether it was the win in Canada, the sprint victory in Austin or the run of top-six finishes either side of the summer break as Red Bull’s RB20 seemed to get worse with every grand prix, Verstappen has delivered points across the season in fantastic ways. His most painful loss of points, one that may well end up costing Red Bull the drivers’ title, was when a brake fire forced him to retire from the lead of the Australian Grand Prix in April.

Verstappen is never going to stop racing hard: his aggressive style is what has earned him millions of fans worldwide as one of the most exciting racing drivers to ever grace the Formula 1 grid. When he oversteps the mark in a way only he seems able to do, though, he deserves to be called out: the Mexico City Grand Prix was one of those moments.