Lando Norris maintained Max Verstappen had not given him enough space when he put wheels on the grass amid a dramatic start to an Italian Grand Prix that the latter ultimately won at a canter.

From first and second on the grid’s front row, Verstappen and Norris went wheel-to-wheel all the way down to Monza’s first chicane, with the Briton briefly having half his car on the grass as the track started to narrow before the braking zone.

Verstappen left the first sequence of corners still in the lead but only after he had cut across across the chicane. The Red Bull pit wall told him to cede the place to Norris, which he did at the start of the second lap.

But such was the Red Bull’s speed that Verstappen re-passed three laps later and pulled steadily away thereafter, eventually winning by an impressive 19-second margin as McLaren became embroiled in a late team orders controversy involving their two title-contending drivers after a slow pit-stop for Norris.

On their initial tussle, Norris had said over team radio: “What’s this idiot doing? He’s put me in the grass and then he’s just cut the corner.”

Verstappen, though, suggested Norris had “let the brakes go on purpose” to squeeze him out into the Rettifilo chicane.

Race Control ‘noted’ the first corner incident but, with Verstappen having swiftly ceded the lead to Norris, it was ruled that no further investigation was required.

Asked after the race if he been given enough room at the start, Norris told Sky Sports F1: “Well, all four wheels were not on the track, so I’ll take it as a no, but I also expect it to be like this in a way.

“I expect a tough on-the-limit-ish defence. I mean, I don’t think you can push people into the dirt. He knew I was alongside from the very beginning, I had the better run.

“You can easily just call it racing in the end, you also just can’t push people off the track.”

Sitting alongside Verstappen in the post-race press conference shortly afterwards, Norris offered a more diplomatic assessment, while saying the battle at the start had been enjoyable.

“It was a little bumpy at one point, but it was what I expected. It was close and it was fun racing,” he said.

“Tough, again, as expected. Enjoyable – it’s what I probably enjoy more than anything, these kinds of battles. It was nice to go out on top for a couple of laps, but it didn’t last very long.”

Asked if he thought it was fair racing, Norris replied; “It’s not my decision in the end. Got nothing to say. It was good.”

Norris happy with performance despite surprise Red Bull dominance

Norris had spoken after qualifying about how he would weigh up the risk of the first corner against Verstappen in the moment given he is the one in this year’s championship fight, against Piastri.

The Briton said he was happy with how he had driven both at the start and throughout the race, but admitted that McLaren simply did not have the pace to beat Verstappen, who ended a four-month victory drought with his third Grand Prix win of the season.

“I braked later into Turn One, I committed a bit more, I just made the corner. I fought well on the first lap,” said Norris.

“My start, my Turn One was still very strong, Even today I felt like I did everything I could, we just didn’t have the pace.

“It felt like a good start, I felt like I gave myself those opportunities, but we were just too slow and that was quite clear today. Unfortunate, but that’s life.”

Norris’ second place trims his championship lead to Piastri to 31 points with eight grands prix weekends left this season, a week on from the car-related retirement at Zandvoort which cost him 18 points for second there.

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