Max Verstappen sent offer to quit Red Bull and join F1 rival keen to be his team-mate
Max Verstappen cracked up laughing when Lando Norris jokingly revealed his plan to stop the Red Bull star at Suzuka. Drastic measures may be needed to prevent Verstappen returning to the top of the podium in Japan, with the Dutchman a class apart from the rest of the field in qualifying.
More than half a second stood between Verstappen and his nearest challenger as he put together one of the finest qualifying laps in the sport’s history, according to former F1 star Karun Chandhok.
But it wasn’t all about the reigning double world champion. Saturday also brought a tremendous result for McLaren, with Oscar Piastri and Norris taking second and third respectively to build on the latter’s P2 in Singapore last weekend.
When Norris was asked after qualifying whether there is anything he and his team-mate could do to stop Verstappen on race day, he made it clear that only exceptional circumstances will see anything other than the favourite prevail.
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“Hmm… we’re going to try,” said the McLaren star. “I mean, if he’s leading by Turn 2, there’s not a lot you can really do. I don’t know. Oscar, if you want to emulate [Alain] Prost and [Ayrton] Senna into Turn 1, you can do that happily. That would be lovely for me.”
Verstappen burst out laughing at Norris’ reference to the pair’s infamous 1990 collision at Suzuka, with Senna taking title rival Prost out of the race at the very first corner.
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“We’ll try, you know,” continued the 23-year-old. “I think our race pace is decent. It’s definitely not going to be as good as the Red Bull but we will do our best.”
McLaren now have breathing room ahead of Alpine in the Constructors’ Championship, enjoying a comfortable buffer in fifth after their strong showing at the Marina Bay Street Circuit last time out. Zak Brown and co may even have an outside chance of catching Aston Martin in fourth, with the two teams on differing trajectories in terms of their mid-season development.
While Norris remains McLaren’s standout driver, it’s Piastri who will have the best chance of taking the fight to Verstappen on Sunday – at least on the first lap. The Aussie would naturally love to celebrate his new multi-year contract extension with a positive result in Japan.
“I am thrilled to be extending my partnership with McLaren for many years,” said the rookie earlier this week when the new agreement was confirmed. “I want to be fighting it out at the front of the grid with this team and I am excited by the vision and foundations that are already being laid to get us there.”
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