Verstappen balks at Norris' behaviour: 'I just don't think that's correct'

Max Verstappen convincingly managed to secure pole position in Japanese qualifying. However, the Dutchman had to fear a penalty afterwards because he almost collided with Lando Norris. However, he himself is unaware of any wrongdoing, he told Viaplay.

Norris and Verstappen were both doing an out lap. Where the world championship leader was warming up his tyres, taking advantage of the width of the track, Norris suddenly passed him at full speed. Although it ended well, the consequences were almost incalculable.

"It's kind of a gentleman's agreement: before that last corner, you're not going to overtake anyone," commented Verstappen. "And of course, everyone is stuck with their own tyre temperature which they have to keep an eye on. Mine was quite low. They were quite cold, but that's how we wanted them."

"At one point I suddenly saw this McLaren in my mirror. I want to get on the gas to try to stay in front of it, but then it broke out completely because of the cold tyres. In the end, you create those problems yourself by screwing someone else. I just don't think that's correct. In the second run, he did it again."

Verstappen has good feeling about qualifying

Verstappen is therefore assuming that he will just start Sunday's race from the first starting position. After the excellent qualifying that Verstappen managed to put down, he goes into Sunday with a good feeling.

"In any case, it's a good start. I think it went well in the rain anyway and in the dry, it also went pretty well this morning. We made a few tweaks to the car and the balance was just good in qualifying. I also think the first lap in Q3 was good. That second lap you should normally go even faster, but some of the rear broke off. Because of that, I lost some downforce."