Verstappen and Piastri both failed to improve on their final laps – and the Dutchman blamed that on Norris going slowly in front of him in the final sector.
The incident happened on the run to the final chicane at Turns 16/17.
Verstappen’s engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said “you can thank your mate for that” – a reference to the friendship between Verstappen and Norris.
Verstappen, who looked angry about the situation in the immediate aftermath of qualifying, said: “Without that I think it would have been close for pole.”
The four-time champion later added: “You need every kind of clean air that you can have on a Q3 lap, especially because you’re fully on the limit with braking and everything. And I lost a bit of downforce with that. So I went straight on.”
He had calmed down by the end of the official news conference, after which he told BBC Sport: “Of course these things happen, I just hope it wasn’t deliberate.”
Norris shrugged the incident off, saying “Ah, they always complain. They complain about everything. It’s Red Bull. I was, like, three seconds ahead or something.”
Asked whether his brush with the wall on his first lap was a kiss or a hit, Russell said: “A bit more of a snog.
“When you’re on a really strong lap and you just touch the wall like that, you’re a little bit tentative going into the next corner.
“You just don’t know if you’ve got a puncture or the car’s just going to spin out on you. And obviously it’s a very fast corner, but all good in the end.”
Russell, who crashed on Friday, added: “I had a difficult day yesterday for many reasons but it’s good to come back and get a good result today. I knew there was potential in the car.”
