What Max Verstappen told Lando Norris immediately after beating him to World Championship
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris shared a moment in the TV pen.
Max Verstappen has offered an insight into his conversation with Lando Norris after the Las Vegas Grand Prix, revealing that he told the McLaren star that he has what it takes to win World Championships in the future.
Verstappen and Norris battled hard throughout the season, creating a memorable title fight after two seasons of relatively comfortable dominance for the Red Bull driver. Ultimately, the Brit was unable to keep the contest going into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend with his rival sealing the deal on race day in Las Vegas.
After the Grand Prix, Verstappen and Norris were spotted embracing in the TV pen with smiles on their faces before stopping for an extended chat away from the prying microphones of the broadcast media.
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Explaining their conversation, Verstappen told F1 TV: “We’ve had a lot of moments together, also off track, and of course these things we discussed already. I told him ‘Your time will come one day’, you know.
“Be patient. Even at McLaren when it was not going that well, I said ‘I know you are capable of winning titles’. Now this year, of course, there was that opportunity and at one point it was looking like it was going to be a proper battle.
“And in the end, of course, we overturned it again to a bigger advantage, but they were close and, of course, it is looking like they are going to win the Constructors’ [Championship].
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“But we keep battling and I think we have a lot of respect for each other. And of course, it’s very nice that he just came back to the pen and congratulated me. I think that is how it should be.”
While Norris was criticised for describing Verstappen’s win in Brazil as “lucky”, there were no complaints from the Brit when he was asked about the outcome of his first title fight on Sunday.
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"Congrats to Max,” he told Sky Sports F1. Knowing the championship is 100 per cent over, we always had a little hope inside but he drove an incredible season. When he had the quickest car, he dominated, when he didn't, he was still there and always in my heels.
"He made my life tough. We made his tough I'm sure at times. But he drove a better season and of course a big congrats to him. That's the main thing. The race was pretty pants. Bad pace, bad grip, bad tyre management, just a poor weekend from us."
