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MEXICO CITY – As the papaya McLaren of Lando Norris, his Formula One title rival, began to fill its mirrors, Max Verstappen hung on until the final corner and jumped into the pits.

It's a process he's carried out hundreds of times in F1 races throughout his career. But this stop was a far cry from the world record pace his Red Bull pit crew is known for.

After he brought his car to a stop, everyone froze. Each member of the pit crew stood still, ready to service the car but not daring to touch it.

Verstappen waited. And waited. And waited. A full 20 seconds passed before the signal was given and the mechanics came to life to change Verstappen's tires within a few seconds before sending him on his way.

It was the result of two penalties that could determine not only Verstappen's fight for the championship against Norris, but also their rivalry.

A week after their fight in Austin, which reignited the debate over Formula One racing rules following Norris' controversial penalty, he and Verstappen went head-to-head again on Sunday, ten laps before the Mexico City Grand Prix. Run. And this time it was Verstappen who suffered damage.

In his typical style of reaching out with his elbows and leaving no room for maneuver, Verstappen left no room for Norris at Turn 4, forcing the McLaren driver to go onto the grass. Norris had to get back in ahead of Verstappen, who then made a second retirement before the fast left-hand turn 8.

Verstappen didn't even come close to the corner and forced Norris to take evasive action. “This guy is dangerous!” Norris shouted to his engineer.

What a moment in the history of this year's World Cup 🤯🤯#F1 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/nTZfYjDcMy

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 27, 2024

Norris has often acknowledged the severity of his arguments with Verstappen. But even he knew that this was the limit. So did the stewards. Two self-inflicted 10-second time penalties – one for pushing Norris off the track at Turn 4 and a second for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn 8 – left Verstappen's race in tatters.

When Verstappen was informed of the penalty, he spoke dismissively on the radio and pointed the finger at Norris. “Then how about him, Turn 4? “Then that’s okay?” he said, referring to Norris staying in front. “This is silly, man.”

After Verstappen served his penalty in the pits, he ended up in 15th place. While he recovered to sixth place, it meant Norris (who finished second) reduced the gap at the top of the standings to 47 points with four laps to go.

Verstappen fended off the penalty after the race. “Honestly, 20 seconds is a lot, but I'm not going to cry about it or share my opinion,” he said. He also didn't have much to say about driver guidelines for overtaking, the rules that govern what is and isn't allowed in these wheel-to-wheel battles.

“I just ride the way I think I have to ride,” he said. His bigger concern was Red Bull's lack of speed compared to McLaren and Ferrari.

As separate as it may be from their off-track friendship – a camaraderie shared over padel courts and Twitch streams – the tension on the track between Norris and Verstappen has grown again after this third flashpoint after Austria and Austin. When Norris jumped out of the car for the parc fermé interviews, he was quick to express his respect for Verstappen, but didn't let that cloud his judgment.

“In my opinion, that’s not very clean driving,” Norris said.

In the post-race press conference he spoke in more detail and explained how he drove in the fight against Verstappen just to avoid an accident. And he pointed out the championship dynamics: With a 47-point lead, Verstappen is in a “very strong position” and has “nothing to lose” in these battles.

“I go into a race expecting a tough battle with Max,” said Norris. “It's clear that it doesn't matter whether he wins or comes second. His only job is to beat me in the race. And he will sacrifice himself for it, just like he did today.”

What is “fair” when there is fighting on the race track in Formula 1 is this Challenge that the stewards must solve – especially when dealing with such an aggressive driver like Verstappen. Verstappen's duels with Lewis Hamilton in 2021, particularly the duel in Brazil where Verstappen went off the track several times trying to stay ahead of Mercedes, showed how much he was willing to exceed these rules when involved in a title fight .

The action taken against Verstappen in Mexico is the harshest punishment Verstappen has ever received because of his driving style. Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said it would “now set a precedent” for what drivers are allowed to do and what not to do in a duel on the track. He suggested that as long as the rules and their implementation allowed for a particular type of racing, drivers would always take whatever advantage they could.

“A driver like Max will always take advantage of it,” said Wolff. “I think now there has been a new interaction and new implementation of these regulations and I think that will change the way everyone races in the future. You won’t see that again.”

Verstappen refused to acknowledge he had done anything wrong. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner also wanted clarity – but not because of Verstappen's actions. Rather, it was because of what he and the team thought Norris did in Turn 4.

Horner arrived at his post-race media session at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez holding a telemetry printout showing Norris' data from the lap 10 incident and his fastest lap of the Grand Prix. He claimed that Norris was driving so fast on the outside of Turn 4 that it would have been impossible for the McLaren to make the corner – but that meant that Norris was in front at the apex and therefore had the “right” to take the corner.

“You can clearly see that he effectively stepped off the brakes, got in very, very late to try to win this argument in terms of the way these regulations are written,” Horner said. “At that point you get punished.”

Horner denied that Verstappen had done the same in Austin when he defended on the inside from Norris when he had driven up to the inside and gone off the track, but was deemed to be in front at the apex and therefore had the 'right' to the defense had corner. “Max didn’t really go off the track,” Horner said. “He stayed in the perimeter. It's something that really needs to be cleaned up in the future.

“There are great races going on and it's just important that the rules of engagement are fair, rather than giving an advantage to the outside line, which in the history of motorsport has always been the riskier place to be when you're on the outside.” .

“It's almost an advantage because all you have to do is stay ahead when turning in, regardless of whether you make the corner or not.”

This suggests that Red Bull did not expect Verstappen to change his approach going forward after receiving this penalty. And at a time when racing guidelines are already being discussed so intensely by drivers, with changes planned for the penultimate race of the year in Qatar, that will only fuel the tension the next time Verstappen and Norris clash on the track .

“All I would do is encourage a constructive discussion between the drivers and the drivers' commissioner to say, 'OK, we're going to have four more hotly contested races – what's acceptable and what's not?'” Horner said.

Whatever the outcome of any potential discussions, Verstappen will not shy away from his aggressive racing style, particularly in the heat of a championship battle when the Red Bull car has not given him the performance or confidence he needs to comfortably claim a fourth title .

Norris always wanted to have a close match against Verstappen. At the beginning of the year he even enjoyed his first real fights. But will it be possible? When asked about the race, he shrugged and said he could only focus on himself.

“I’ll drive fair,” he said. “If he doesn't do it, everything will go like it did today. I think he wants to drive fairly. I hope he does. I think he also enjoys those moments where it's a fair fight.

“All I can do is keep doing what I’m doing. I feel like I'm doing a good job. We’ll see what happens.”

Go deeper

Lando Norris talks the F1 title hunt: pressure, mistakes and Max Verstappen's friendship

Top photo: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images