Lando Norris left stunned after Max Verstappen statement as F1 rival prompts disbelief

Lando Norris has responded to Verstappen's performance in the FT World Challenge Europe race in Portimao

Max Verstappen has left Lando Norris stunned (Image: Getty)

Max Verstappen left F1 rival Lando Norris stunned with his performance in the GT World Challenge Cup final. Verstappen teamed up with Chris Lulham for the event as part of Verstappen Racing. He was, however, left with a damage limitation job to do after a collision involving Lulham. The incident led to the British driver being handed a drive-through penalty.

That meant that when he handed over to Verstappen for the last hour of the race, the team were in 24th position. Despite that, the Dutchman was able to show his quality and produce some brilliant overtakes to finish the race in ninth place.

Norris was watching the action on a Twitch livestream, and was left in disbelief at Verstappen’s comeback. He said: "Oh, wait! It's already over? Max went from P24 to P9?"

When told about the penalty received by Lulham, he added: "Oh, wait, Lulham got a drive-through penalty! And Max still went from P24 to P9 afterwards? What a shame, that's really unfortunate.

Max Verstappen impressed with his performance in the FT World Challenge Europe race (Image: Getty)

"But he still went from P24 to P9 afterwards! That’s something else."

The incident and subsequent penalty handed to Lulham led to the driver receiving some abuse. It’s something that Verstappen hit back at by releasing a statement.

Writing on social media, Verstappen said: "Exciting weekend! Was very happy to be racing our GT3 car in Portimão. There were some ups and downs, but as a team we learnt a lot.

"I also feel I need to speak up about the hate and harassment Chris has received after the race. Everyone can have their opinions about what happened on track, but these personal attacks are not okay. Chris had a really strong stint and mistakes can happen.

"There’s no place for this kind of abuse in our sport or anywhere else."

Verstappen’s performance came after he won the last two F1 races in Bahrain and Singapore. He will look to make it three in a row in the United States GP on Sunday, 25 October.