Max Verstappen is having none of Lando Norris' claim that he didn't purposely mock the Dutchman's signature catchphrase. Verstappen won a fourth drivers' title in a row this year but did not have things all his own way. He was pushed particularly hard by Norris as his McLaren team surpassed Red Bull in terms of car performance.
A key victory for the Brit came at Zandvoort as Verstappen was denied victory in his home race for the first time in Formula 1. And Norris did so in style, winning the Dutch Grand Prix by almost 23 seconds before saying over the radio: "Simply lovely, huh?".
That got plenty of attention as it's the two-word phrase Verstappen often says to his team over the radio after he takes victory in a race. So when Norris repeated those words, it seemed as though the Brit was rubbing his victory in his rival's face. The McLaren racer insisted afterwards that he did not mean it that way. He protested: "I mean, he's won a lot of races and he's done a lot of things. I don't know - I'm not prepared for it, I don't prepare myself for it, so it just felt like the easiest go-to.
"Honestly, it doesn't mean anything to me from my side. I'm not trying to make a statement, I just want to go and win and go home! I don't care about trying to make statements to try and do all of this. It just popped into my head, so I thought I'd say it. It's a fun thing.
"I can't think of those things - I'm not trying to have a dig or anything, like a lot of people want to come up with and headline with and all of that nonsense. I don't know, it was more of a funny thing to do, and obviously I respect Max a lot, so I stole one from the many, many wins that he's got.".
