The McLaren driver gets on well with Verstappen and, amid the surge that his squad enjoyed over the second half of last season, found himself sometimes battling for position with his Red Bull rival.
But the way that he has sometimes appeared to make passes easy for Verstappen, rather than be ultra tough with his defence, prompted some observers to question his approach.
And in particular, having shown himself willing to race harder against other drivers like Lewis Hamilton, ask whether he treated Verstappen differently because they were good friends.
These criticisms are something Norris has been aware of, but he insists that anyone linking his attitude to racing Verstappen to their friendship is wide of the mark.
Instead, he says that his choice of defensive tactics varies between drivers because he knows there are some rivals where there is no gain to be had by being super robust in trying to hold them back.
Speaking to Autosport about his approach, Norris said: “I think one of those areas where I’ve done a good job this year is by reading the situations that I’m in, knowing who I’m racing against and who I’m not.
“I know it’s a race at the end of the day, but the likelihood of losing a position to Max in Austin, and how I raced Lewis versus how I raced Max, in the end I kind of knew I was going to lose positions to both of them.
Source: Autosport