McLaren's Lando Norris expressed that he would lose respect for Max Verstappen if the Red Bull driver failed to apologize for a collision that ruined their Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday. The duo are close off the track but intense competitors during Formula One races, and tensions escalated at Spielberg's Red Bull Ring as they battled for the lead. Stewards determined that three-time world champion Verstappen was primarily responsible for the crash and imposed a 10-second penalty on him, which did not affect his outcome, along with two penalty points. Verstappen, who fell from first to fifth but now leads Norris by 81 points after 11 races, called the penalty absurd and received support from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. "He (Norris) didn’t act appropriately there, Max. Extremely unlucky, particularly here, but you gave it your all," Horner said via team radio. A disheartened Norris, who had to retire due to a puncture and car damage, found the situation hard to accept and accused Verstappen of being reckless and desperate in his driving. "It hinges on what he says. If he claims he did nothing wrong, then I lose a lot of respect for that," Norris told Sky Sports television when asked about the future of their relationship. McLaren boss Andrea Stella implied that Verstappen's actions, including moving while braking, stemmed from the sport's rules not being adequately enforced in the past. "The issue is that if these matters are not addressed honestly, they will resurface," Stella noted. "They have resurfaced today because they were not properly addressed in the past during clashes with Lewis (Hamilton in 2021) that required harsher penalties. We hold Red Bull and Max in high regard; they don't need to resort to this. It's a way to potentially damage their reputation. Why would they do that?" Stella added. "The regulations must be enforced effectively, because when a car is eliminated from the race due to such an accident, the punishment must be commensurate with the consequences."