MEXICO CITY — McLaren has submitted a right of review over the penalty that dropped Lando Norris behind title rival Max Verstappen at the U.S. Grand Prix.
Norris was handed a five-second penalty after passing Verstappen off track in the closing laps of the Austin race.
Verstappen had also left the circuit defending the position, leaving Norris and McLaren puzzled about what constitutes gaining an advantage by leaving the track.
On Thursday, after media activities for this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix were completed, the FIA confirmed McLaren wants to appeal the penalty.
The first hearing will take place on Friday afternoon, with a second looking into the penalty itself taking place if the FIA has decided there is “a significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the party seeking the Review at the time of the Decision concerned”.
The Austin penalty dropped Norris behind Verstappen, extending the latter’s championship lead to 57 points with five races and two sprints to run.
Norris later called the result a “momentum killer” in the title fight and he arrived in Mexico still sure the stewards had made the wrong decision.
Verstappen’s racing tactics and the rules around wheel-to-wheel combat dominated media day.
Lewis Hamilton, who experienced Verstappen’s habit of going off track to defend position at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix, suggested it’s something the FIA needs to clamp down on.
“I mean it’s always been a grey area, that’s why he’s got away with it for so long,” Hamilton said. “I mean, yeah, they probably need to make some adjustments for sure.”
He added: “I experienced it many times with Max, you shouldn’t be able to just launch the car on the inside and be ahead and then you go off and still hold your position. So they need to definitely work on this.”
Hamilton is not the only one who thinks Verstappen intentionally runs off the circuit to defend position, as it is a growing viewpoint in the paddock.
Verstappen was unimpressed when that suggestion was put to him in his own media session. “It’s quite impressive that people can read my mind,” Verstappen said. “It’s crazy. I mean, I always tried to make the corner. I didn’t want to look for a shortcut. I don’t even know what to answer to this bit.”
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc said he enjoys racing against Verstappen knowing how he is willing to blur the lines of what is allowed.
“Max has always been on the limit of regulations, but that’s what makes racing Max so exciting,” he said. “And that’s also why I really like having those fights with him, is that you know that he will never let any room to you, and it will be always at the limit of the regulations. And that’s what makes those fights very exciting.
“With Max it’s always at the limit of the regulations. Sometimes it goes a little bit over, but yeah, that’s what makes Formula 1 exciting. Those fights makes it exciting.”
The Norris-Verstappen incident in Austin raised old questions over the consistency of stewards.
Hamilton’s teammate George Russell said he was unsure whether the incident was a case of stewards simply being wrong in their decision or a driver simply finding an unclear part of the rules and exploiting a grey area.
“I don’t think you can write a set of regulations that cover every single possible scenario,” he said. “It is a very fine line. I think myself, personally, I’m really interested to see if the FIA believe — and having reviewed everything again — that Max should have been penalised for what he did or not.
“In my view, he should have been penalised, therefore there’s not really a loophole. If they say based on our regulations that he should not have been penalised, then he’s exploiting a loophole.”
Russell added: “But he’s in a title battle with Lando, the same way he was in a title battle with Lewis. I don’t think he would have done the same maneuver if that had been any other driver, the same way in Brazil ’21, I don’t think he would have done the same maneuver if it was any other driver.
“It was a bit do or die, and I think he’s quite happy to drive in that manner against your title rival, which for me, I totally understand.”
The governing FIA currently has a rotating panel of stewards race to race, which critics say opens the door for decisions to differ based on which stewards are in the room for any given grand prix.
One option floated to drivers was whether the FIA should appoint a group of permanent stewards.
Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez, gearing up for his home race this week, doubted the FIA would have many people actively seeking a permanent position.
“I think with 24 races, there is no steward in the world that will be up for the job, first of all,” he said. “And secondly, I think it’s just a very difficult one because sometimes at the end of the day, the stewards, the two stewards you have can have a different opinion.
“So you always feel like the decision works against you. What goes around comes around. So it’s always very difficult in these things to have the best decisions. I think ultimately it’s best not to get in trouble.”
Russell, head of the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA), was unequivocal when asked whether the FIA has a responsibility to provide F1 with the best stewards possible.
“Absolutely. They are governing the sport, and we need to have the best in the business, the same way as you’ve got the best drivers, the best engineers, the best designers,” he said. “We’re at a point now when you need to have the best stewarding, not only from a driving standpoint, but on the technical side as well. I do appreciate it’s not easy, and that needs financing somewhere.
“Collectively, within from the drivers and the GPDA, we have asked about the financial fines, and where they are going towards as well, so that definitely when a letter does come out, there will be a discussion about these financial fines, because we have been asking for a bit of transparency on this front.
Because it does seem a little bit ridiculous that if a driver gets a 50-grand fine for walking over a race track. But if that 50-grand fine is going towards financing the best stewards in the world, maybe we won’t be so upset about it.”
