Max Verstappen debate erupts after 'disrespectful' F1 act at Japanese GP

Max Verstappen breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday night after F1 stewards allowed him to keep pole position despite a scary incident with McLaren's Lando Norris in qualifying.

The Dutch driver claimed pole by a fraction of a second from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, but risked having it stripped from him after accidentally running Norris off the road.

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A debate has erupted within F1 circles, after both Verstappen and Red Bull boss Christian Horner claimed Norris had violated a 'gentlemen's agreement' not to overtake on the straight before the Suzuka circuit's final chicane.

The supposed agreement, which is not recognised or enforced by the FIA, sees drivers line up prior to the third sector chicane in order to give each other enough room for a flying lap.

Norris, who had been following Verstappen on their out laps, was forced to take evasive action when he overtook to the left of the Red Bull.

Verstappen's car had slid to the left as he tried to warm up his tyres before his lap, forcing Norris onto the grass at high speed - the 25-year-old exclaiming 'unbelievable' as Norris sailed past.

Fortunately for the championship leader he was given a reprimand instead of a grid penalty, however he remained displeased about the situation afterwards.

“We were on our out lap and we were all lining up to create a gap to everyone and then somehow he still wanted to get me into the chicane,” Verstappen said.

“But I was on the point of accelerating and I was on very cold tyres, so I had a little moment and that’s why he had to drive around me.

“But if he had just a bit more respect for me, because everyone is anyway lining up and I don’t think anyone is trying to pass into that last chicane, so by trying to pass me you create that kind of thing.”

Team boss Horner similarly pointed the finger at Norris, saying Verstappen clearly didn't expect Norris to be approaching at speed.

“There is a gentleman’s agreement between the drivers that when you get to that part of the circuit that you hold position and you file through the last corner one by one,” he said.

“So, Lando decided that he wants to jump the queue as they head up to that final chicane. They were following each other around the lap until that point.

"I don’t think [Max] expected it. He was warming the tyres up to start the lap. They go one-by-one through the chicane.

“They are all doing different things on the out lap and I can only assume that Lando wanted to blitz it into 130R and the chicane.”

McLaren bite back at Red Bull over scary qualifying incident

Norris and McLaren were having none of Red Bull's explanations however.

The British driver said Verstappen 'for sure' should have been penalised.

“There’s no rule on what you can do, but doing what he did is something that you cannot do,” Norris explained.

After later reviewing the incident and speaking to Verstappen, Norris said that while he had initially thought the Red Bull driver had tried to block him from overtaking, he could accept the argument that it was a case of unfortunate timing.

Verstappen spun up the rear tyres after seeing enough space ahead of him to begin his own flying lap - but happened to do so at the same time Norris committed to overtaking him on the outside.

"Obviously when I’m in the car at the time, it looked like probably what most people thought – which was he tried to defend position, not allow me past," Norris said.

"It’s scary to be in the situation at the time because if I stayed on track and he lost more control of the car it could have been a pretty big crash.

"But when he explains it you can also see his explanation at the same time. The stewards have made it clear, they’ve steered a certain amount of blame for him.

"He knew I was behind him, he probably could have tried to not boot it so much and wheelspin as much as he did at the time."

It was a frustrating qualifying session for McLaren, with Daniel Ricciardo knocked out in Q2, falling short of Sebastian Vettel's time by just 0.003 seconds.

Norris got through to Q3, but only managed to put himself 10th on the grid, ahead of his teammate in 11th.

After earning a huge constructors championship turnaround in their battle for fourth place against Alpine, McLaren will have it all to do with Esteban Ocon starting fifth, and Fernando Alonso seventh.

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