Max Verstappen has dismissed concerns he could face a backlash from fans at the British Formula 1 Grand Prix after his crash with Lando Norris . The clash between the two top drivers in the championship at round 64 in Austria has been the main talking point in F1 over the past week, with Norris retracting some of his comments on Thursday ahead of the Silverstone race .

Norris is one of the most popular drivers on the track, leading to the prospect of Verstappen being booed by British fans, as was the case with Sebastian Vettel in 2013 after the ‘multi-21’ incident with Mark Webber, and again in 2017 after his collision with Lewis Hamilton in Azerbaijan. But Verstappen is not worried about the possibility of being booed by fans. “I’ve been through it before so I’m just focused on performance,” he told the media, including RacingNews365. “Everything was clear, to me that was the most important thing and we moved on. Lando and I are good friends, so we talked about it and everything was cleared up.

“That’s the most important thing – as long as I’m okay with Lando, that’s the only thing I care about.”
Verstappen and Norris are good friends off the track, with Verstappen describing the pair’s conversation on the Monday after the race as he pledged to continue his aggressive driving style. “I won’t compare riders because that makes no sense – and the only thing I care about is maintaining my relationship with Lando, because we are good friends,” he said.

“After the race I said we just need to let things cool down because emotions are running high – we mainly talked on Monday and came to the conclusion that we really enjoyed our fight . “But we both looked inward, and it was a dumb move that had major consequences for both of us, and even more serious for Lando. “We love racing fiercely, we have done so for many years, not only in Formula 1, but also in online races where we have a lot of fun together. “These things must continue because that’s what we want to do – and that’s also very good for Formula 1.”