Norris sees way to finish ahead of Verstappen: 'Depends on how much he wants to fight you'

After the start, Norris tried to get past the Dutchman immediately, but the Red Bull driver used all the track available to him. As a result, Norris had to leave the track, leading to him losing multiple positions.

"Without that I'm in the wall, hard," he began to Sky Sports. "Qualify ahead. It's the obvious thing isn't it?"

Still, Norris would not do a thing different regarding the Lap 1 incident. "Nothing. If there's a gap, I'm going to go for it. I'm not going to back out. I'm here to race. I will stop talking."

Norris managed to overtake Verstappen on Lap 17, after he already did that once, but left the track in doing so, and had to return the position.

When asked about whether Verstappen could really do whatever he wants, Norris concluded: "No I'm just saying it for the interview."

After six rounds, Norris trails Piastri by 16 points in the drivers' standings. Verstappen's gap to the Australian is twice as much.