US Grand Prix: Lando Norris says penalty for Max Verstappen pass a ‘momentum killer’
Both incidents were controversial, but Norris and his McLaren team were more concerned by the defining moment of the Austin race with four laps to go.
Norris had spent most of the race behind Verstappen, but an offset strategy gave him a tyre advantage in the second stint and he closed on to the back of the Red Bull with 12 laps to go.
The two rivals spent the next eight laps battling, sometimes running side by side, until Norris tried to capitalise on the best opportunity he got.
He went for the outside line at Turn 12 as Verstappen defended the inside. Both cars ran off track on the exit and Norris emerged in front.
Verstappen immediately complained that Norris had overtaken him off the track, which is not allowed. Norris and McLaren saw the incident the other way around.
Norris said: “For me, the thing that is incorrect is what Max did, which is defend his position by going off the track and effectively keeping his position. He over-defended and made a mistake and gained from that.
“I had to go off the track. It is impossible for people to know whether I could have made it on the track or couldn’t, therefore you cannot steward that kind of thing.”
Norris and McLaren team boss Andrea Stella said the stewards should have reviewed the incident with both drivers after the race.
“For me it’s just a rash decision,” Norris said. “They don’t hear or understand our points, which they should do after the race. They just want to make a decision at the time so they don’t alter points and podiums and things like that.
“But they don’t hear my point or my team’s point or Max’s point, which I don’t think is the most correct thing. But today it’s a penalty and there’s not a lot I can do apart from accept that.
“It was a great battle. Max defended very well but he ended up on top and congrats to him.”
Norris said the stewards were “just guessing and I don’t think that’s how stewarding should be done”.
Stella drew comparisons with other incidents in which Verstappen has driven in the same way during his career.
“The defending car goes just straight at the apex,” Stella said. “We checked the video multiple times; it is just going straight. It is just going off the track as much as Lando is doing, just giving no chance for Lando to compete the manoeuvre.
“If I was a journalist, I would have done a bit of statistics how many times Max has used this way for defending. Both cars go off track. So I think both cars are gaining an advantage if there is an advantage gained. So I think it was at least neutral.”
Verstappen rejected Stella’s remarks, saying: “They complain about a lot lately anyway, but it’s very clear in the rules. Outside the white line, you cannot pass. I’ve been done for it as well in the past.”
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