Lando Norris
Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren F1 talks in the Drivers Press Conference during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of France at Circuit Paul Ricard on June 17, 2021 in Le Castellet, France. Photo by Antonin Vincent - Pool/Getty Images

KEY POINTS

  • Lando Norris has some words for Pierre Gasly after their encounter in the French Grand Prix
  • Gasly defends his actions as a case of 'hard driving'
  • The two are set to meet on the track once again at the Austrian Grand Prix

The 2021 French Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing pull off the upset against Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes to take a 131-119 lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

The Belgian-Dutch driver took pole position from Hamilton from Lap 52 of 53 for his third win of the season.

Teammate Sergio Perez also placed on the podium after taking over Mercedes driver Valterri Bottas for Red Bull’s first double podium finish this season.

Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren enjoyed a good outing in France as they finished 5th and 6th respectively after starting 8th and 10th respectively on the grid.

The McLaren drivers were pushing hard and fast to move up the grid with timely overtakes and deft maneuvers to navigate the very tricky Circuit Paul Ricard.

Things came to a head-on Lap 28 for Lando Norris and AlphaTauri driver Pierre Gasly.

Norris briefly passed Gasly on the outside at Turn 11 for the 10th position, but Gasly tried to retake position leading to both drivers being both ran off the track upon the exit.

Lando Norris
Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren F1 Team MCL35M Mercedes in the Pitlane during the F1 Grand Prix of France at Circuit Paul Ricard on June 20, 2021 in Le Castellet, (Photo by Peter Fox/Getty Images)

“He forced me off! What’s this idiot doing? He even went off himself,” an annoyed Norris complained over the team radio.

Gasly would go on to defend his actions as them being the result of hard driving.

“I’m sure (he complained)! It was hard racing, but I really enjoyed it," Gasly recalled. "You can’t expect to go around the outside and the guy not to fight. I tried to keep it clean, it’s a very difficult corner, very long, on the edge of the grip."

"Also a tailwind, so it was difficult keeping the car on the track. I haven’t seen the footage, I’ll look at the footage to see if it was too much or not. But everyone likes a bit of racing.”

Norris told his view of the incident on F1 TV’s “Post-Race Show”.

“The fact that he ended up off track as well was like the bad bit of it. I think what he tried to do was okay, if he stayed on the track, fair play," Norris stressed. "But the fact that he throttled so much to squeeze me off, and then he went off as well, was like a bit of a harsh move. But I still got him anyway so I don’t care.”

Norris pointed out that he does not care, but he was certainly irked with Gasly’s maneuver.

The pair will duke it out again this weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix.

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