Max Verstappen Dishes On His Chat With Lando Norris After Shocking Austrian Grand Prix Clash

While all of us here in the United States spent our Thursday celebrating the birth of our fine country, over in Great Britain — who we trounced in the Revolutionary War — they're getting ready for the British Grand Prix.

One of the biggest talking points coming into this week was how things would go between Red Bull's Max Verstappen and McLaren's Lando Norris after they had one heck of a run in last weekend in Austria.

While Red Bull started the season with a big lead over the rest of the field, McLaren — and specifically Norris — has closed the gap which has led to numerous clashes and battles for wins between the two drivers, who are good buddies off-track.

Things came to a head in Austria when after several battles going in and out of the Red Bull Ring's Turn 3, they collided.

Both drivers suffered punctures in the incident which led Norris to retire from the race, while Verstappen continued — despite a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision — and finished in P5.

Norris talked about how Verstappen has a different way of racing than other drivers on the grid.

"To me, the only thing that I cared about is of course maintaining my relationship with Lando, because we are great friends," Verstappen said per the Formula 1 website.

"After the race I said we have to just let things cool down, because emotions run high. We immediately spoke on Monday and I think we came to the conclusion that we actually really enjoyed our battle."

A collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris while fighting for the lead in Austria ruined both of their races. (Photo by Guenther Iby/SEPA.Media /Getty Images)

I mean… it was a good battle until each of them had to limp back to the pits with a shredded Pirelli.

Verstappen leads Norris in the drivers' standings by 81 points going into Sunday's race at Silverstone. Meanwhile, Norris leads Ferrari's Charles Leclerc by 6 points.