Lando Norris downplays friendship with Max Verstappen: ‘I don’t talk to him’

Norris will start Saturday’s sprint race in Brazil from second, two places ahead of Verstappen

Lando Norris has promised not to treat Max Verstappen “like s***” – despite playing down his friendship with the driver he is bidding to dethrone as world champion.

Norris will start Saturday’s sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix from second, two places ahead of Verstappen, after Oscar Piastri sealed a last-gasp pole position in the other McLaren.

Norris looked on course to take top spot throughout qualifying only to be gazumped by Piastri with the Australian’s final throw of the dice. Norris failed to improve on his final outing to allow Piastri to snatch the honours by just 0.029 seconds.

Norris is unlikely to be satisfied by the result, but he will draw comfort from McLaren’s speed, and the expected assistance of his team-mate in Saturday’s 24-lap dash to the flag in Interlagos.

McLaren have already declared Norris will be prioritised over Piastri, who is no longer in the championship mix.

Norris, 47 points behind Verstappen heading into the concluding four rounds, finished three tenths faster than the Red Bull. It was also confirmed on Friday that Verstappen will be forced to serve a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s main event for exceeding his allocated engine parts.

The Dutch driver’s sanction hands the initiative firmly to Norris with a total of 34 points available this weekend. The momentum is with the Brit, too.

He took seven points out of Verstappen’s title lead at the previous round in Mexico City after the Red Bull man was handed a combined 20-second penalty for forcing him off the track twice. And Norris admitted he hasn’t exchanged a word with Verstappen in the build-up to this weekend’s event.

“Everybody thinks we are better mates than we are,” he said. “I don’t talk to him every day. I don’t talk to him every week. I don’t talk to him every month. I have other people who are my real friends. My true friends.

“He’s a guy I get along with well off the track. He’s a guy I respect a lot. I have known him longer than anyone else on the grid, from karting. I was speaking to him last week before the race and having a laugh.

“That doesn’t change. I am good at keeping things separate. Whether a good thing or bad.

Lando Norris has downplayed his friendship with Max Verstappen (Getty Images)

“How I focus on track is different from off track. If someone treats me like s*** on track, it doesn’t mean I will treat them like s*** off the track. They are two different worlds.

“There have been very few people in the world who has done what Max has been able to do. There are 99 things that he is better at than everyone else in the world, and one thing that he is not.”

The concluding remark was another slight at Verstappen’s defensive tactics which are under the microscope more now than ever before.

But despite falling foul of the stewards in Mexico, a defiant Verstappen insists he will not change his aggressive approach, and he is likely to be crawling all over the back of Norris’ McLaren’s gearbox on the short downhill run to the opening chicane.

British teenager Ollie Bearman was provided with a last-minute call-up in Sao Paulo after Kevin Magnussen was ruled out of the event through sickness.

He impressed to haul his Haas into Q3.

However, the 19-year-old’s sole lap in the final session was deleted after he exceeded track limits when he carried too much speed through the Senna Esses. He will start 10th, one spot clear of Lewis Hamilton after the Mercedes man failed to make it into the final phase.

Hamilton starts five places behind team-mate George Russell for tthe sprint race which takes place at 11am local time (2pm GMT) in Sao Paulo prior to qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix.