One of the main storylines in the 2024 Formula 1 season has been the driving standards of Max Verstappen against the McLaren duo.
Verstappen has come to blows with them on more than one occasion this year, with Lando Norris often on the receiving end of his on-track scuffles.
Norris and Verstappen came to blows during the Austrian Grand Prix, when the two title rivals were fighting for the lead of the race after Red Bull produced a slow pit stop for the Dutchman.
After several attempts to get past, Norris went around the outside of Turn 3, but Verstappen defended the inside line and moved under braking causing them both to collide. Norris would be forced to retire while Verstappen was handed a 10-second time penalty.
This would develop later on in the season, with Norris having to avoid Verstappen by going off track in Austin when attempting an overtake at Turn 12 and later being forced off the track in Mexico twice which earned Verstappen two time penalties amounting to 20-seconds.
In reaction to the incidents, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has alluded to how his drivers will approach racing Verstappen in the future when speaking on the High-Performance podcast.
Zak Brown explains how McLaren is going to race Max Verstappen in the future
Piastri was caught up in an incident with Verstappen at the final race of the season, when the Dutchman made an optimistic move up the inside and collided with the McLaren within the first 200m of the race.
The incident earned Verstappen two penalty points on his super licence which puts him very close to a one-race ban in 2025, while also having to serve another 10-second time penalty.
While not explicitly naming Verstappen, Brown thinks his drivers much approach racing him in a different way compared to others.
“Unfortunately, you’ve got to race drivers the way they race you and there is some drivers that are easy to pass, some drivers that are hard to pass. There are some drivers that will run you two wheels off, and then there are some drivers that will run you four wheels off, which is not cool,” said Brown.
“Sometimes the only way to race another driver that runs you four wheels off is to run them four wheels off. I’d much prefer to go racing against Ferrari the way we did this year, instead of some of the other squabbles we had.”
Max Verstappen’s driving under the spotlight
There has been several on-track incidents between Verstappen and one of the McLaren driver’s this year, owing to the fact that the Woking squad has been their closest rivals.
It has been an impressive turnaround from McLaren considering they had a slow an unreliable machine at the beginning of 2023, owing to a lot of changes to their backroom staff including poaching key figureheads from Red Bull aerodynamics team.
READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend
Verstappen has often pushed things to the limit on track, so much that the FIA will be making changes to the driving guidelines used by stewards to issue penalties next season.
George Russell went on a media frenzy in the build-up to the Abu Dhabi weekend, criticising him for being a “bully” after their incident during Qatar GP qualifying that earned the Red Bull driver a one-place grid penalty.
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