McLaren fume at ‘inappropriate’ F1 bosses over Norris-Verstappen fight

McLaren have angrily hit out at F1 bosses for what they believe was “inappropriate” interference in the gripping battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen at the US Grand Prix that cost their driver a podium place.
Amid an increasingly exciting fight for the F1 Drivers’ Championship title, Norris – who arrived in Austin trailing Verstappen by 52 points in the season standings – was competing with his rival for third place in the final laps of a race that saw Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainx take a one-two.
Norris thought he had got the job done with four laps remaining when he moved ahead of Verstappen at Turn 12. However, the stewards handed him a five-second penalty on the final lap after they felt the Brit gained an advantage by running off the track to complete the move, demoting him to fourth, behind Verstappen, after the chequered flag fell.
Explaining their decision, the four-man stewarding panel said Norris lost the “right” to the corner because he was not level with Verstappen at the apex. However, they acknowledged that Norris had little choice other than to leave the circuit because Verstappen also ran over the white lines.
The result means that Norris departs Texas 57 points adrift of the Dutchman, with only 146 points available over the concluding five rounds and McLaren team boss Andrea Stella wasn’t happy with the stewards’s intervention in the battle.
“My view is that the way the stewards interfered with a beautiful piece of motorsport was inappropriate, because both cars went off track, so both cars gained an advantage,” Stella told Sky Sports. “It’s a shame because it costs us a podium.
“It cost us a race where we stayed patient after we were pushed off on the first lap at the first corner. We accepted it, having said very clearly our position, this kind of decision by the stewards cannot be appealed. For us, the chapter is now closed, and we move on to the next race.”
Norris started from pole position at the Circuit of the Americas before dropping to fourth following a poor first corner and never challenged for the race win after that.
Finishing ahead of title rival Verstappen and closing the gap in the season-long standings would have provided some solace at least but instead the Brit was denied and left to disagree with the decision by the stewards.
Asked if he understood the verdict, Norris replied: “No, not really. The point where it is incorrect is what Max did, which was also to defend his position by going off the track and keeping the position.
“He went off the track because he over-defended and he made a mistake but he has gained from that. I had to go off to avoid him. With Max, you’ve got to commit, you cannot go half-hearted and people don’t understand that kind of thing.
“It is impossible to know if I could have stayed on the track (without that). Therefore, you cannot steward that kind of thing. It is just a rushed decision and 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.
“And you can’t appeal this kind of penalty which is again a silly thing because they are just guessing and I don’t think that is how stewarding should be done.”
Unsurprisingly, Verstappen did not agree with Norris’s comments.
The Dutchman said: “It is quite clear, you cannot overtake outside the white lines. It happened to me in 2017 at this race, and I was penalised, and I lost my podium.”
The F1 circus heads to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez next weekend for the Mexican Grand Prix.