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McLaren F1 principal Andrea Stella has accused the US GP stewards of “inappropriately” interfering in Lando Norris’ battle with Max Verstappen for third place, handing the Englishman the five-minute time penalty cost the place on the podium.
The penalty received by Norris relates to the fact that he passed Verstappen coming off the track with four laps to go. The Briton and the Woking team noted that the Dutchman himself went off the track at that moment, pushing Norris off the track.
The Englishman had caught up to the Dutchman having put on the hard rubber in his only pit stop several laps after the champion’s pit stop. So he had the traction advantage, and made a number of attempts to pass, before the lap 52 incident.
The McLaren driver then tried to open a gap of more than 5” on the Red Bull driver to hold onto 3rd place after the potential penalty, but only managed to finish 4.1” ahead of Verstappen.
“My view is that the way the stewards intervened in this wonderful motorsport moment was inappropriate because both cars went off the track.” Andrea Stella told UK’s Sky F1 network.
“Thus, both cars gained an advantage. We double checked that both cars went off the track. For us, there was no doubt that (Norris’) move was the right one. It’s a shame because it costs us the podium.
It cost us a match in which we were patient. The incident where we were pushed off the track in the first corner of the first lap, we accepted it. Based on this, our position is clearly that this kind of decision of the race officials is not subject to appeal, so for us the chapter is closed and we are moving on to the next one”concluded the Italian.
McLaren F1 director Andrea Stella
MCLAREN MEDIA CENTRE
In the same media outlet, Norris expressed a similar view. Asked if it would be better if the team asked him to give the seat back to Verstappen, Norris replied: “It is impossible to know. The stewards obviously couldn’t make up their minds on certain laps, so it wasn’t an easy decision – otherwise it would have come a little earlier.
He went off the track too, he went out for a few metres, so he turned a lot faster and also gained an advantage by doing what he did. But I’m not the one who makes the rules.
And I need to see the boot again too. Apparently Max wanted to find a small loophole. From the cockpit some things are harder to see, and others easier. He obviously came in quite determined, which he has every right to do, but he still steered completely off the track, so I’ll have to look at that again.
Defends off the track, passes off the track. I’m not complaining, though. Max drove well and defended well, we had a good race together. But the rules are the rules”Norris concluded.
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