Martin Brundle did not mince his words when assessing Max Verstappen’s controversial tussle with Lando Norris in the early laps of the Mexican Grand Prix.
Once the safety car had returned to the pits after Yuki Tsunoda’s opening-lap crash, and once Carlos Sainz had passed Verstappen to take the lead, the Red Bull star and Norris were fighting for second place.
Unlike in Austin last weekend, Norris had the lead going into the corner but was still forced off track by Verstappen on the exit. And the Dutchman refused to go quietly, with more perilous wheel-to-wheel action seeing both drivers temporarily leave the circuit moments later.
Verstappen was subsequently given a 10-second time penalty for forcing Norris off the track, and a separate 10-second punishment for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
Reviewing the incident, Sky Sports commentator Brundle apologised to Verstappen before ripping into the reigning world champion. “I’m sorry, Max, that is outrageous,” he said.
Brundle called for stewards to hand out a 10-second penalty before their ruling filtered through, and branded Verstappen’s first move on Norris ‘a clear shove’.
Once Verstappen’s second punishment was handed down, Brundle said: “For me, I had a feeling he had something else coming his way. They penalised him for the first one, which was rude and cheeky. But the second one was just plain dangerous. Now he’s carrying a 20-second penalty. That’s just about a full pit stop.”
Norris fumed over the team radio after getting in a tangle with Verstappen for the second race in a row. Last weekend at Circuit of the Americas, the McLaren star begrudgingly had to accept a five-second penalty for passing Verstappen off the track, even though his title rival had left him with nowhere to go.
Having narrowly avoided a costly collision in Mexico, Norris ranted: “I was ahead the whole way through the corner. This guy is dangerous. It’s the same as last time. I’ll be in the wall in a minute.”
Formula E ace Sam Bird sided with Norris when giving his take on Sunday’s incident. “I agree with Lando,” he told BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra. “That was too extreme, we are on the edge of our seats here but that was really, really extreme. The drivers had a meeting about this exact thing, you can’t just run another driver off the circuit like Max has done there twice.”
