Lando Norris admits to 'driving like a muppet' during contentious Max Verstappen battle

believes that he lost the lead of the at Turn One on the opening lap because he was 'driving like a muppet'. The Brit started from pole but ended lap one in fourth position.

After beating Verstappen to an impressive pole position in fortunate circumstances on Saturday, Norris faced the daunting challenge of holding F1's most aggressive overtaker back at one of the toughest Turn One's to navigate as a polesitter.

The front row drivers got near identical launches and Norris quickly moved over to cover off the threat of a divebomb. However, he wasn't aggressive enough and Verstappen kept his nose in, getting alongside the McLaren driver and running him wide at the exit of the hairpin.

Discussing the race start, Norris conceded: "Turn One, I didn't do the correct thing but I feel like what happened at the end of the race was more on my side. Otherwise, it was a good battle, and I enjoyed it.

"We just didn't come out on top because I didn't do a good enough job. If I defended better in turn one and wasn't driving like a muppet, then I should have led after Turn One, and we shouldn't have this conversation in the first place..."

The Brit also praised his rival's aggressive moves, despite the backlash that Verstappen received from pundits after the race. "I think Max drove very well. It's very hard to do what we're doing, and it's hard when you're side by side, you're completely one side of the track to guess where your braking marker is.

"You're going quicker than you have before because you use the battery, the tyres are older, there's different bumps, there's a lot of dirt, we're battling and fighting hard... so I respect the battle that we had, it was a good one, it was enjoyable, I think it was respectful."

Later in the race, Norris and Verstappen shared another battle with very serious implications for the World Championship. The Brit attempted a move around the outside of his title rival at Turn 12 but both drivers went off track as the Red Bull man braked late to hit the apex first.

When they merged back onto the tarmac, Norris was ahead, but the stewards deemed this an illegal overtake, hitting the Brit with a five-second time penalty that relegated him behind Verstappen in the final classification. The driver now faces an uphill battle in the remaining five races of 2024.