Norris says Verstappen F1 departure would be 'a miss' for the sport

Lando Norris has said he believes Max Verstappen will continue to race in Formula One but that it would be "a miss" for the sport if the four-time world champion did decide to leave owing to his dissatisfaction with the way this season's new regulations have affected how drivers race. Verstappen has been outspoken in his dislike of the new regulations and their focus on electrical energy management that now makes up almost 50% of the car's power output. He has intimated he might leave the sport but, with the rules having been adjusted by the FIA in an effort to address concerns of all drivers this week, Norris felt the Dutchman would remain in F1. "Hopefully things get better and I just saw that he said he wants to win the fifth world championship at the minute, so I'm sure he'll stay longer than people say," Norris said. The McLaren driver, who is the defending world champion, noted, however, that it would very much be F1's loss if Verstappen left because he was disenchanted. "It would be a shame for the sport, it would be a miss for the sport if that does happen because he probably is one of the best drivers you'll see in Formula One ever," he said. "It would be a shame for us because as much as he makes our lives incredibly tough at times, he's always good fun to race against and it's always cool to race against someone that's won four world championships. You always feel like you want to race against the best in the world and he certainly is one of them, so it would be a loss for the sport." On Monday F1 announced the changes to the regulations, which will come into force at the next round in Miami on 3 May. The adjustments focus on the parameters of the energy recovery management during qualifying and racing. Both Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri expressed cautious optimism that the adjustments would indeed lead to a better experience behind the wheel. "The two main things we [drivers] wanted addressing was reinstating the challenge in qualifying and making things more natural in the way it should be in qualifying and being able to reduce the closing speeds and the speed differences in the race in unexpected places," said Piastri. "The FIA took it very seriously. F1 took it very seriously. I think that's reflected in some of the changes and the dialogue's been very good. We'll have to wait and see if we need further changes. We probably had ideas of other things that you could change but they're not things you can change from one weekend to the next. They're from year to year or even longer term than that. "I think the FIA did a good job of recognising our concerns and acting in what seemed like the most appropriate way." Norris was happy responding to all enquiries on Verstappen and the regulations after last week, during an interview by the Guardian's Donald McRae, the driver's personal management team stated he would not answer questions relating to the new regulations or his rival drivers Verstappen and George Russell. Norris was apologetic at the stance of his management at the time and said he was happy to answer the questions but the interview was brought to a halt by his managerial team. On Wednesday Norris was speaking at an event at his team's HQ, the McLaren technology centre in Woking and embraced all questions, as is always the case when he is with McLaren and the driver continues to enjoy a friendly, open relationship with the media.