Norris is talking a matter of days after he likened Verstappen’s controversial collision with Mercedes’ George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix to something out of the Mario Kart game.
That comment was made in the green room before the podium while chatting to Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. He did not want to expand on it to the media, and he still does not now, joking: “I don’t remember saying it.”
But he will talk about the challenge of racing Verstappen. The two are friends off track, but Spain was not the first time Norris had expressed public criticism of the way Verstappen goes racing.
He is asked how the on-track stuff does not blur into their off-track relationship.
“I don’t think he’s done anything untoward towards me,” Norris says. “He’s raced against me very, very toughly, as he has the right to do. He’s made my life very, very tough at times. And he has the right to do that.
“I’ve said it many times, I have a lot of respect for Max. The driver he is, the person he is, what he stands for all of the time. And what he’s achieved, his four world championships. That’s four more than me, and he’s had a lot more race wins than me.
“I admire those stats, those performances. But at the same time, everyone does what they believe is best. Everyone does what they believe is right. And they race for themselves.
“Some may be more aggressive than others. But everyone has flaws. I have them. Maybe he has them.
“I race in the aggressive way I believe is correct, and he does the same. The stewards are the ones who decide what is right and wrong.”
I ask how he races with someone whose philosophy of racing, as Verstappen expressed in a BBC Sport interview in November, is: “When I race with someone, he will not be able to overtake me around the outside.”
Norris says: “When you’re racing for wins, championships, against the best in the world, you can never expect things to be easy. You learn in go-karting that you can’t at all easily overtake around the outside. That is like a rule number one.
“But it can be done, and it will be done. But the number one goal for us is always to finish. Sometimes, when you try too hard, things can go wrong. You might end up not finishing the race, even though you might be in the right. So sometimes you’ve got to take the safer approach.”
Over his time in F1, Norris has been open about his struggles with self-belief. Verstappen transparently believes he’s the best. Does Norris believe that of himself?
“It’s a tricky question,” he says. “I do believe I’m the best driver. Maybe not on every given day, and every single day.
“I do believe that I can drive quicker and perform better than everyone else on the grid. But to perform at that level consistently is a very, very difficult thing, no matter what the conditions are, what car you’re in, who you’re against.
“That can be a more defining question. Maybe sometimes I find it hard to admit and just say. But I wouldn’t be racing in Formula 1, I wouldn’t be fighting for a world championship, if I didn’t believe deep down that I could be the best in the world.”
