Max Verstappen and Lando Norris left the stewards’ office still on good terms after their qualifying incident at the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend.
The Dutchman was preparing for his first and pole-setting run of the final qualifying session on Saturday, and he was crawling out of 130R in preparation for the start of the run.
Norris was not prepared to wait so, as was his right, he decided to pass the reigning champion heading into the final chicane.
As he tried to get some heat into his tyres, Verstappen lost the back end, and that sent him straight into the path of the McLaren driver, who was forced to take avoiding action.
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Norris’ trip to the grass earned both drivers a trip to the office after the session, and the 25-year-old’s pole position looked in a bit of jeopardy.
The stewards gave Verstappen a reprimand after watching a clearly unintentional loss of traction, but he was allowed to keep the pole lap he had set on that first run.
As they walked back to their motorhomes, Sky Sports reporter, Ted Kravitz, asked if all was okay between them.
“Are we all friends, lads? Do we think it’s going to be okay? Pole’s okay?” asked Kravitz
“We’re always friends,” replied Verstappen.
Verstappen led almost the entirety of the race on his way to victory on Sunday after Carlos Sainz had caused a lengthy red flag by crashing on the opening lap.
Norris started the race 10th, one position ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, and neither McLaren was able to profit from the transition onto Intermediates towards the end of the time-limited race.
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They started where they finished, with Norris unable to clear the Williams of Nicholas Latifi, who scored his first points of the season in ninth.
Verstappen picked up full points after the race finished in green flag conditions, and Charles Leclerc picked up a penalty for cutting the final chicane and then pushing Sergio Perez wide on the final lap.
The 24-year-old dropped to third behind the Mexican, giving Verstappen the championship with four rounds to go.