McLaren boss turns fire on Horner after Norris U-turn

SILVERSTONE, England : McLaren boss Zak Brown dismissed a suggestion on Friday that Lando Norris was 'too nice' in his explosive track battle with Max Verstappen and turned his fire on Red Bull principal Christian Horner.

Norris backtracked on Thursday on his call for the Dutch triple champion to apologise for a costly Austrian Grand Prix collision that came while both were fighting for the lead last Sunday.

That U-turn was followed by Verstappen, whose uncompromising style has been much discussed outside his team, emphasising how much he valued the relationship with his friend and did not want to ruin it.

Some saw that as Norris handing Verstappen a psychological advantage by defusing the situation rather than keeping the pressure on.

The pair have been first and second in five of the last seven races, with Verstappen winning seven times in 11 and Norris once.

"I think there's a difference between what a racing driver's like when the helmet goes on and the visor goes down, and what they are like Monday through Thursday and how they communicate and carry themselves in the relationships that they have," said Brown.

"A lot of world champions (are) sweethearts outside of the race car but pretty fierce once the helmet goes on and Lando's no different."

Brown described the battle between the two as 'epic' and said Verstappen, like any great driver or top designer, would naturally push the rules to the limit until he was told he had gone too far.

The American, who repeated his call for permanent stewards, was not letting Horner off any hooks, however.

The Red Bull boss told Verstappen over the radio on Sunday that Norris had not behaved correctly.

Stewards saw it differently, blaming Verstappen for the collision and handing him a 10