Max Verstappen was left angry with Lando Norris after an incident on track in qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix

Max Verstappen made clear his frustration with Lando Norris (Image: Sky Sports)

Max Verstappen warned Lando Norris that the Brit’s actions on track “will be noted” after a furious end to qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix. The Dutchman was second quickest behind pole-sitter George Russell but quickly made it clear he was angry with the Mercedes driver’s compatriot.

Footage showed Verstappen made a mistake towards the end of his final lap after getting caught in the dirty air of the McLaren of Norris ahead of him on track. “You can thank your mate for that one,” race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said sarcastically over the radio, while the driver himself swore loudly.

Replays showed Verstappen shake his fist angrily at Norris as he went past the McLaren on track, clearly angry with the 25-year-old. And, after he had climbed out of his car, he picked up a microphone to make his frustration completely clear. “That’s what happens when there is a car in front of you, just cruising three seconds in front. So that’s noted, it will be remembered as well,” he glowered.

When interviewer David Coulthard asked Verstappen to clarify who it was he was angry at, the Red Bull racer pointed as Oscar Piastri beside him and said: “Not Oscar,” hinting that Norris was the subject of his frustration. Indeed, TV replays confirmed that it was the other McLaren driver who had got in his way.

Later, in the FIA press conference, Verstappen clarified once and for all that Norris was the subject of his ire and said: “In qualifying, you always try to leave gaps of six or seven seconds at least, because you want no disturbance. Normally, in Q3, you don’t see a car unless you’re on a different programme but around here it’s quite clear what you want to do, so you leave quite big gaps to everyone.

“But of course sometimes it happens on a street circuit that people are bored and make mistakes, so when you then get a car two or three seconds in front of you, you need every bit of clean air that you can have on a Q3 lap especially, because you are fully on the limit with braking and everything, and then I lost a bit of downforce with that so I went straight on.”

Sky Sports did not ask Norris about the incident in their post-qualifying interview in the TV media pen. But he did reveal in that conversation with Rachel Brookes that he has suffered with illness so far this weekend and said: “If there’s anywhere you don’t want to be poorly, it’s here. I’m better today – yesterday and the day before I was struggling a little bit. It hit my pretty quickly, but it also went away relatively quickly. I’m probably not optimal, but no excuses for today.”

Asked about McLaren’s surprisingly poor pace, having qualified just fifth, Norris added: “Mercedes are doing a good job, Red Bull like we’ve seen have been very good the last few weekends so nothing is a surprise. The only thing, Singapore has always been a bit of a weird one and we know when we struggle with the front tyres, we struggle as a team.

“I think we understand why we have struggled a little bit with the front of the car not strong enough, too much understeer and things like that. Then you have to make compromises and give up rear grip for that. It just feels disappointing that we’re not quick enough. That’s why it doesn’t matter when you say you dominated one, two or three weekends, when you come here and you’re three-tenths off the pace, it’s too slow and you don’t feel like you’ve done a good job.”