Norris kept his responses after qualifying relatively brief. He appears to be working hard to stay cool and calm as he goes through the most intense weekend of his career.
That’s understandable. Although his path to the title is relatively easy, the fact that Verstappen is not threatens to make the race for the championship leader an uncomfortable one.
With the title on the line and winning the grand prix not good enough on its own for Verstappen, the race is unlikely to be easy, and what Verstappen and Red Bull might try to get in Norris’s way remains an unknown.
“I have no idea,” said Norris, when asked if he expected Verstappen to try to back him up in the group. “I expect everything. So wait and see.”
Verstappen was asked the same question, both in his interview with BBC Sport on Thursday and in the press conference after qualifying on Saturday.
The reference here is Lewis Hamilton’s race in 2016, when he drove slowly ahead of his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in an attempt to pull back against Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, knowing he needed Rosberg to finish third to win him the title. It didn’t work.
Verstappen was given this example. His response, on both occasions, with slightly different wording, was to point out that it would be more difficult to do so now, as changes to the circuit have made it less stop-start.
“It was a different design,” Verstappen said. “I feel like you get towed a lot more now. So it’s not as easy to do that.”
“I felt like it was a lot easier to go back because the tires were getting hot. They are very different times. I hope the race is not easy, but I hope it’s not my fault.”
He added: “I want to win tomorrow, but I also know that’s not enough even if I win. So I just hope that some Abu Dhabi magic happens behind me. So let’s see what we get. I just hope it’s an interesting and fun race.”
That comment about the “magic of Abu Dhabi” is clearly a reference to 2010, when Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso entered the race with an advantage over Red Bull’s Mark Webber and Vettel, in a situation quite similar to this year.
Alonso looked certain to win the title, until Ferrari ruined his strategy, got stuck in the midfield after an early pit stop and spent an agonizing two-thirds of the race watching his dreams turn to dust as Vettel took the win and the title.
