Lando Norris says he needs to make changes to his approach to racing with Max Verstappen after their battle at COTA.

Norris finished third on track in the United States Grand Prix, but was given a five-second penalty which dropped him behind Verstappen in the final classification, meaning the Dutch driver’s championship lead swelled to 57 points.

Lando Norris: Little changes are needed

The contentious moment of the Grand Prix came as an under-pressure Verstappen was attacked by Norris down the back straight, with the McLaren moving past before the braking zone at Turn 12.

Leaving his braking later than Norris, Verstappen moved up the inside and crowded Norris to the point where both drivers took to the escape area as Verstappen ran wide. With Norris keeping up his momentum on the outside to pass Verstappen through the escape area, his failure to hand back the place resulted in the time penalty.

It was a controversial moment that has seen plenty of arguing amongst fans, teams, and pundits in the days since the fairness of the penalty came into question, given that Verstappen had run wide as well.

The FIA’s Driving Guidelines suggested Verstappen had conformed with all racing rules, but his aggressive tactics of defence have met with consternation.

It’s not the first time the pair have come to blows this season, with their Austrian GP battle resulting in contact and calamitous damage – although Verstappen recovered from his puncture to finish fifth, while Norris’ damage was too much to finish the race.

With Norris yet to come out on top of a dramatic wheel-to-wheel battle with Verstappen on a day where their two cars have been of comparable performance, the British driver admitted he feels he needs to make changes to his approach to racing his contemporary.

“It’s not an easy answer,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, when asked if he needs to become more aggressive.

“Honestly, it’s not as simple as just saying yes. Do I need to make some changes? Yes, and still adapt a little bit more.

“But is everything I’m doing wrong? Also, it’s a no. So it’s a tough position to be in because, like we saw, Max didn’t care if he won or second or third.

“His only job was to beat me, and he did that. So he did a good job from that side, and I had a lot of fun, and I respected the battle that we had, but yeah, he still ended up on top.

“I need to be beating him – some little things I need to change, but I don’t need to change my own approach.”

Lando Norris: I’ve avoided incidents which could have been worse

With Norris opting against criticising Verstappen in the aftermath of the race, he explained that he and the Dutch driver haven’t spoken in the days since – but it’s not for reasons of annoyance.

“I’ve not spoken to Max at all because he did what I guess he thought was right, I did what I thought was right,” he said.

“I still disagree, and I think, as a team, we still disagree. I think the majority of the people who were watching disagreed with the penalty that I got.

“But I’ll make the changes that I need to make, whether it’s being more aggressive at times, or less aggressive, or whatever, I’ll do what I think is right.

“Max is very good at what he does, and he’s probably the best in the world at what he does.

“So, when I’m going up against the best in the world, it is not going to be an easy thing to do, and he’s been racing in this position for longer than I have.

“I’m definitely not doing a perfect job, but I’m not doing a bad job. I’m still staying there, I’m avoiding collisions, which a lot of things that we’ve done could have easily been turned into worse things, like bigger crashes and stuff.

“I’ve avoided them and stayed in races which easily could have ended earlier than they have. But no, I think there are certain things I don’t agree with, but I still want to be racing.