Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, feels Lando Norris after another encounter with Max Verstappen.

These opening corners are getting to be a real thing these days, what with Jeddah, Saturday's Sprint and then Sunday's Grand Prix.

Alongside pole-man Verstappen on the run to Turn 1, Norris went wide in the opening corner and while he claimed to have been forced off the stewards didn't agree, insisting he had not been ahead.

As if losing out on the lead wasn't bad enough, several other drivers passed the Briton, and by the time the dust had settled he had dropped to sixth.

While his teammate passed Verstappen on Lap 14 and headed off into the distance, it took Norris four crucial laps to pass the Dutchman, during which time there were another couple of heart in mouth moments, though in all honesty the Dutchman, while making his car as wide as possible, placed it perfectly. However, he eventually pushed a little too hard and ran deep allowing the McLaren through.

"Max put up a good fight as always and I paid the price," said Norris at race end, "but it's the way it is.

"What can I say?" he added. "If I don't go for it, people complain. If I go for it, people complain, so you can't win.

"That's the way it is with Max, it's crash or don't pass. Unless you get it really right and you put him in the perfect position, then you can just about get there."

The Briton insists that if he hadn't taken action to avoid the Red Bull he would have been "in the wall".

Asked if he felt Verstappen's aggressive approach was unfair, he replied: "It's not for me to decide."

Asked what he needs to do in order to avoid such situations, he was in no doubt. "Qualify ahead," he admitted.

"We both got past him," he continued, "you've just got to be in the perfect place. In the end he just let me go, he didn't even put up a fight. It just depends how much he wants to fight you. It's Max, he's doing a good job, he can do whatever he wants.

"If there's a gap, I've got to go for it," he added. "I'm not going to back out, I'm here to race.

"It's still going to be a very good weekend. I'm still not in the happiest place and I've got to be there against the best. I'll keep chipping away, but it's been a positive weekend. I'm still happy. There's always next time."

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