Norris: I don't think Verstappen should apologize

The stewards in Austria found Verstappen at fault in his incident with Norris and slapped him with a ten-second time penalty, while the McLaren driver said he would lose respect for his Red Bull counterpart if the latter did not apologize.

But it seems a few days of reflection have changed Norris' mind, evident from what he told the media at Silverstone on Thursday.

Asked what he had learned from his incident with Verstappen, Norris said: "I mean, we've gone over things a few times. I learned many things.

"I think a lot of stuff I was anticipating, I knew about, but it's still a different. You're fighting against different people, you're fighting in different ways at the top, compared to when you're a bit further back, like we have done the last year or so, but at the same time, Max has a very different way of racing compared to a lot of others.

"And that's some of the reasons of why he's a champion. But all in all, yeah, I reviewed it and I'm excited to go again this weekend and try to do a better job," he insisted.

"It's clear how he races. It's tough. It's on the limit," Norris responded when asked explain Verstappen's driving style further. "And yeah, I think it's what we love. You know, it's what I love.

"I thoroughly enjoyed the whole fight I had with him. Of course, it was a shame things ended the way they did. But apart from that, things are clear from what you see on TV. And I think I'm excited to go race him again this weekend."

Norris revealed that he and Verstappen have talked since their crash last Sunday, and when asked the conversation included an apology from the Dutchman, the response was surprising.

"Honestly, I don't think he needed to apologize," Norris stated. "I think some of the things I said in the pen after the race were just more just because I was frustrated at the time. A lot of adrenaline, a lot of just emotions. And I probably said some things I didn't necessarily believe in, especially later on in the week.

"It was tough. It was a pretty pathetic incident in terms of what ended both our races," he went on. "It wasn't like a hit, it wasn't like an obvious bit of contact. It was probably one of the smallest bits of contact you could have, but with a pretty terrible consequence for both of us, especially for myself.

"I don't expect an apology from him. I don't think he should apologize. I thought it was as a review, good racing. At times, maybe very close to the edge but like we said we've spoken about it we've talked about it and we're both happy to go racing again," the 24-year-old explained.

Norris was speaking in the Thursday drivers' press conference, as the Verstappen incident kept coming up, and Norris was asked if he would change the way he races Verstappen and whether he still believes the reigning Formula 1 Champion should've been penalized for moving under braking.

He said: "I think it was still very clear that it was happening[moving under braking], but yeah, it's a tricky one. You know, Max isn't going to want to crash. He's not going to want to ruin his own race and his own chances.

"So I think, yes, there are definitely things I need to do slightly differently. But in the end of it, I don't think he's going to change too much. I don't think I need to change too much.

"Could we have avoided the crash?" Norris mused. "Definitely, because it's something I could have done. I easily could have used more kerb. But, there's things on both sides that I'm sure we wanted to do better or in a slightly different way, but on the whole, I think avoiding an incident from moving under braking is probably the biggest part of it.

"There could very easily be an incident that comes from such a thing, and I think that's the only thing we have to be very careful of is something that could happen, so that's just something for the future and something that the stewards, [the] FIA need to be aware of, that something could easily go wrong.

"So I think to a certain point, you're defending, you're being aggressive, and that's okay. But there will be a point when there is a limit, and I think that just needs to be defined in a slightly better way," Norris concluded.