Max Verstappen plays up Lando Norris fight ahead of British GP after holding 'trust' talks

Max Verstappen will battle 'flat out' with Lando Norris at the British Grand Prix and beyond after the pair held talks in the week to discuss their headline-stealing crash at the Red Bull Ring.

Tempers flared after the Austrian Grand Prix last Sunday with Norris insisting that his friendship with the three-time world champion was over without an apology, while Verstappen refused to shoulder the blame for the contact that ended his rival's race.

After the race, Verstappen made it clear that he wanted to discuss the matter privately, noting: "I need to look back at how or why we touched and of course, we'll talk about it. It's just unfortunate that it happened."

Initially, Norris rebuffed this request, explaining in his post-race interviews that it was on the Red Bull driver to apologise and move the make-up process along.

However, according to Verstappen, they engaged in talks ahead of the British GP. Revealing what he told the McLaren driver, the Dutchman explained: “I was saying Lando ‘When you go for moves up the inside, the outside, you can trust me that I’m not there to try and crash you out of the way’... same the other way round because we spoke about that as well.”

He also added: "After the race, I said ‘We have to just let things cool down because emotions run high’, and we immediately spoke on Monday.

“I think we came to the conclusion that we actually really enjoyed our battle. But we looked at the incident… it was such a silly little touch that had of course great consequences for both of us, and naturally a bit more for Lando with how the puncture unfolds. But we like to race hard."

While the contact ended Norris' race, gave both drivers punctures and created a storm of controversy and debate, Verstappen will not be changing the way that he and his rival battle.