Jos Verstappen sees ‘difficult’ future for Max-Lando friendship

Former F1 driver Jos Verstappen has claimed that it will be "difficult" for his son, Max Verstappen, and McLaren's Lando Norris to remain friends in the future. 

The two drivers collided several times during the 2024 F1 season, yet have continued to stress that their friendship remains intact. 

Their first serious clash came towards the end of the Austrian Grand Prix at Turn 3, which saw Norris retire from the race and George Russell inherit a shock victory. 

Verstappen and Norris later had a close call in the United States GP, and notoriously in Mexico City. 

All the incidents came as a result of McLaren having a car which could challenge the four-time world champion, in what was Norris' first attempt at fighting for the drivers' title. 

On the back of winning a first constructors' title since 1998, McLaren is expected to go from strength to strength. 

With this in mind, Max's father foresees his son and Norris' friendship encountering further challenges.

"It's going to be more difficult, I think. Of course, for a long time it was about the world title that was at stake," Jos told Formule1.nl.

"Max knows that's the case, he's also quite easy-going about it. He knows the dividing line between the mutual relationship off the track and on the track. He's very mature in that."

Friendship changes

As pointed out by Jos, the majority of the drivers on this year's F1 grid get along, with the exception of a few after recent incidents. 

This has changed since Jos' F1 career, with the Dutchman revealing that he opted not to have any friends in the paddock. 

Max is very different to his father in that regard, as the 27-year-old is known to socialise with his peers away from the circuit.

“If I look at my time in Formula 1: I didn't have any friends," explained Jos. "At least not in a way that I kept in touch with them afterwards. Not at all. I choose my friends myself. 

"I do have the impression that most of the guys who are on the grid now get along well off the track. Most of them have known each other for a long time, from karting. 

"There are about ten guys he has always karted with. So they are a bit closer to each other, but everyone has their own life and does their own thing. 

"Only, Max is a social guy off the track and is nice and normal to everyone. In my time, the relationships between drivers were quite different.”