Verstappen, Norris clash as Red Bull anger boils over

The title fight took a fiery twist in Singapore as Max Verstappen accused Lando Norris of ruining his shot at pole position.

Over the team radio, Verstappen’s engineer quipped that he could “thank his friend” for missing out on top spot, a remark clearly aimed at the McLaren driver.

After qualifying, Verstappen said a rival had been “cruising” ahead of him on his final Q3 attempt, forcing him to abandon the lap. "So that's noted. Will be remembered as well," he warned.

When pressed to name the driver, he confirmed: "Not Oscar (Piastri)." "I mean, sometimes of course it's always a bit more complicated in certain scenarios," Verstappen added. "But in this case, in Q3 with only 10 cars on the track, I think it could have been avoided."

Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko echoed the frustration. "Overall, we're happy to finally be competitive in Singapore," he told ORF. "It's just a shame that Max is second and not first. He was up by a tenth and a half in the final run, but Lando Norris blocked him in the final sector.

"I don't know if it was intentional or not, but at that point pole position became unattainable." He repeated to Sky Deutschland: "Lando Norris's action was incomprehensible. He completely blocked Max in the last two corners. I hope he just wasn't looking in the mirror and that it wasn't intentional."

Norris hit back sharply. "If someone has me on their mind, that's their problem," he told Viaplay.

Later, in the media pen, he added: "Red Bull always complains. There was no problem with Max driving behind me. There was such a huge gap, so no problem. They're always complaining, about everything! That's Red Bull."

McLaren CEO Zak Brown also defended his driver. "Did I watch the wrong footage?" he asked Viaplay. "Otherwise, I can't figure out what they're even talking about when they say Lando blocked him.

"As far as I'm concerned, this is a non-issue. Maybe it stems from frustration, or perhaps Max was distracted because he saw someone in front of him." Former driver Giedo van der Garde told Viaplay the incident was minor.

"As Max approaches Turn 16, you see Norris turning in. After that, Max loses momentum and misses the apex by half a meter. Then he sees his delta time deteriorate. That's when he's frustrated."

Sky Deutschland pundit Ralf Schumacher agreed. "We can talk about dirty air, but Lando is on his in-lap, and nothing can bother Max except visually," he said.

"Lando is doing his job, entering the pits. He's driving slowly and to the left. I'm sorry, but I can't agree with Max on this one.

"The only thing you can do if you're 100%  fair is for the race engineer to say to Norris 'Hey, watch out. Max is coming from behind. Make sure you don't slow down.' That could have been done, but he wasn't in the way."