What do you get your F1 rival for his 25th birthday? “Some glasses” if you’re Lando Norris.

Max Verstappen playfully trolled his McLaren rival in the aftermath of the weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. triumph, telling Norris he’d gift him a pair of spectacles after the British racer squeezed Verstappen onto the grass at the race start.

Norris maintained that he had given the Red Bull driver ample room to manoeuvre, much to the amusement of the three-time world champion.

The McClaren star started on pole position on Sunday, having edged out Verstappen the day prior. The advantage was short-lived, however, as a poor start saw him passed by Verstappen on Turn One as George Russell — taking advantage of the pair’s scuffling — swept past them both on the outside to claim the lead from fourth on the grid.

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But Verstappen’s overtake was almost scuppered, with the 26-year-old pulling up alongside Norris who moved to the right and squeezed the Dutchman towards the edge. The manoeuvre forced Verstappen to dip his right wheel onto the grass, leaving the cars behind him in a cloud of dust. Verstappen ultimately won the race, doing so by a matter of seconds in an enthralling contest between himself and Norris.

Asked about squeezing Verstappen onto the grass at the start, Norris said: “I mean, it’s always difficult to judge in that situation. I can’t get a tape measure out and measure it perfectly. I’m not going to make his life easy. There was enough space, I think. What? I’m just going to stop talking. I think it was just racing. I gave him enough space. I don’t think at any point there wasn’t enough space for him to stay on the track.”

Asked about the allotted space provided, Verstappen voiced a different opinion: “I think I know his birthday present already. It’s either like a big mirror or some glasses.

“No, listen, I mean, it’s hard racing for sure. If you turn it around, would I have done the same? I probably would have done the same. No, listen, you always try to squeeze it to the limit. I also really wanted to avoid potential contact because you don’t want to rub wheels and potentially damage your suspension.

“So you naturally leave probably a few centimetres extra. And that meant those few extra centimetres meant that I had to go a little bit on the grass. And also, luckily, with doing that, nothing happened. So it’s all good. I mean, we still had a good run to Turn One.”

Max Verstappen said he’d buy Lando Norris some glasses for his birthday ( 
Image:
2024 Kym Illman)

Verstappen could afford to be jovial in his post-race press conference, having claimed his seventh Grand Prix victory of the season and his second in succession.

Norris was condemned to rue his poor start and inability to rectify it. While the 24-year-old moved up to second in the Drivers’ Championship standings with that result, he also lost ground to the leader.

“The race, not good enough, simply because we should have won today,” Norris assessed. “I think to answer the question you asked Max, I think we had the quickest car. But I just lost it at the start, you know, and then I couldn’t get past George for the first stint. I think we were quite easily best car out there today.

“I just didn’t do a good enough job off the line. And then that one thing cost me everything. So from Turn 2 onwards, 10 out of 10, I don’t think I could have done much more. And I think as a team, we did the perfect strategy. And I was very happy with what we did. But yeah, the one part at the start, the 1% elsewhere wasn’t good enough.”