26/04/2025 17:50
Lando Norris' race engineer Will Joseph has rebuffed a comparison
between Max Verstappen and his Red Bull pit wall counterpart
Gianpiero Lambiase. The role of an F1 race engineer is crucial
throughout a grand prix weekend as they serve as the link between
the driver and the team during the all-important on-track sessions.
Verstappen and Lambiase have fashioned a highly successful
partnership across the last handful of years, winning four
consecutive F1 titles together. However, they have been known to
quarrel on the radio at times, with Red Bull team principal
Christian Horner describing the pair as an "old married couple".
Speaking exclusively to RacingNews365 , Joseph denied a similar
relationship exists with Norris as he feels the pair understand
they don't need to question each other in a public setting. "I
wouldn't describe us as a married couple, I don't think. We're not
quite that far," Joseph said. "It's not that we're not that far in
a relationship, it's more that our relationship is subtly
different. "On the radio, we don't necessarily bicker, we try and
keep that private. I often say something that he will not be happy
about but we don't need to publicly have that conversation. "We can
come back here and say 'we meant this by this, why didn't you like
it?' "A good example where he said something on the radio, and I
said 'that sounded pretty bad'. "He said that when he said it
didn't sound bad, but downstream, coming across the radio in heat
at the moment, it sounds a lot worse than it normally is." Joseph
has been Norris' F1 race engineer since the Briton made his debut
in 2019. The duo have built their relationship in the seasons that
have followed, with Norris fashioning himself into a world
championship challenger. Joseph highlighted the discussions with
the driver extend far beyond what is heard over team radio, and any
potential hostility is quickly evaporated through talks after a
driver returns to the garage. "We don't worry about how things come
across in the radio, because we know the trust is there and we can
have the conversations afterwards to say, 'What did you mean? Why
didn't you agree with it? How come you didn't follow our advice?
Why did you do the opposite?' "Part of that is the loop between
myself and the other engineers, so we can go back, look at the data
and say, 'Okay, it wasn't that bit, it was this bit'. "I don't
think we're a married couple. I would hope that we have an
adult-to-adult relationship whereby we can disagree, but it doesn't
matter, because we just move on, build and do a better job because
of it." Article continues below the image. Will Joseph and Lando
Norris 'not best friends' Maintaining a strong relationship and a
healthy line of communication with their race engineer is a crucial
element to a driver's on-track success. However, while the two also
share a bond away from the race track, Joseph insisted there is no
need for them to maintain in constant link when they are not at a
grand prix event. "We're not best friends off it, but I would
certainly say we're friends," Joseph detailed. "We have a very
strong relationship. Am I texting him midweek about certain stuff?
No. "The job of the racing engineer is to have that adult
relationship with a colleague, because at the end of the day, he is
a friend, but he's also a colleague. "To have that strong
relationship, such that if there are things that need to be done, I
can be frank about it, and vice versa. "So we're certainly friends,
but we're not best friends. We don't need to be and people
shouldn't expect us to be."
