Lando Norris was quick to respond to Max Verstappen's complaints that his final fast lap in today's qualifying session was ruined by the Briton, who was ahead of him on track.
Max was attacking Turn 16, but Norris, driving at a slower pace, was just a few seconds ahead. Verstappen aborted his flying lap, then sarcastically gave Norris a thumbs-up before voicing his frustrations in initial TV interviews.
Max's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, further fueled the tension, telling Verstappen over the radio immediately after the incident that he could "thank his friend for that."
"They always complain, they complain about everything, that's Red Bull," Norris explained nonchalantly later. "I didn't even realize Max was behind me; I was about three seconds ahead of him. I can't even understand what's going on."
"Tomorrow will be a tough race for me; I'll have to gain positions starting from fifth. I didn't get to do any serious long runs with more fuel, so tomorrow will be harder, but I'm optimistic we can make progress."
Onboard footage from Max's car shows Norris, but he was considerably further ahead of Verstappen to genuinely impact his performance, yet the world champion chose to abandon his lap.