McLaren team principal Andrea Stella believes that the stewards reaction to the incident that saw Lando Norris hit with a 5s penalty was inappropriate.

Norris and Verstappen were battling for third, when, on Lap 45, the Briton made a move on his Dutch rival in Turn 1.

As he sought to hold off the McLaren, Verstappen went wide and in the process Norris also went off and as they rejoined the track the Briton passed the Red Bull.

Verstappen immediately complained to his team that the move was illegal, while Norris insisted that he was ahead of the Dutchman at the apex of the corner and that therefore the move was fine.

The stewards disagreed.

"Norris was overtaking Verstappen on the outside, but was not level with the Red Bull at the apex," they deemed. "Therefore under the Driving Standards Guidelines, Norris had lost the "right" to the corner.

"Accordingly as Norris left the track and returned in front of Verstappen, it is deemed to be a case of leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage," they claimed.

A 5 second penalty was imposed instead of the 10 second penalty recommended in the guidelines because having committed to the overtaking move on the outside Norris had little alternative other than to leave the track because of the proximity of the Red Bull which had also left the track.

As the stewards were making their decision, Verstappen was informed that Norris was almost certainly facing a penalty for track limits violations, however the stewards subsequently deemed that the off during which the controversial incident occurred did not count as a track limit "strike".

"My view is that the way the stewards interfered in this beautiful piece of motorsport was inappropriate, because both cars went off-track," argued Stella at race end. "Both cars gained an advantage," he told Sky Sports.

"It's a shame," he continued, "because it costs us a podium. It costs us a race where we stay patient.

"After we were pushed off in the first lap, first corner, we accepted it," he added. "Having said that, 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."

Such was the Woking team's confidence that Norris' move was legal - and that the stewards would agree - that the team didn't suggest to Norris that he hand the place back, a move the British driver subsequently criticised.

"For us, there was no doubt that the manoeuvre was correct," said Stella.

Other than being unhappy with the time it took the stewards to make their call, Norris felt the stewards were wrong not to punish Verstappen for his move in the opening corner of the race.

"It's impossible to know," he said in reference to whether the team should have urged to him to hand the position back, "the stewards obviously can't make their minds up for a few laps, so it's not an easy decision, or it would have come a bit sooner.

"I tried," he continued. "He also went off the track, a few metres off the track, so clearly went in too hard, and also getting an advantage by doing what he did. But I don't make the rules.

"I need to go look at the start again. It was pretty tight, obviously Max went for a tight gap. From inside the car it's obviously harder to say on some things and also easier to say on some things.

"He obviously committed quite a bit, which he's got the right to do, but again, he went completely off the track, so I need to look back at it.

"He defends by going off-track," the Briton insisted, "he overtakes by going off-track. I'm not going to complain. Max drove well and he defended well, we had a good race together. But the rules are the rules."

Check out our Sunday gallery from COTA here.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 25/10/2024 2:01

"@ Chester.... You are extremely fortunate getting to see the race in person. COTA is a top circuit and always a top race from different perspectives. I see now that McLaren have lodged a 'RTR' and it will be interesting to see where that goes. All the evidence I have seen supports the stewards decisions 100%. Is there any new and as yet unseen evidence to support a challenge? That's the question I guess we all want answered. I'm of the opinion that the given penalty should be doubled to 10secs to incorporate the track limits rule as well as the 'illegal' pass. Fat chance of that happening. Looking forward to Mexico for a square off once more....."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by Chester, 24/10/2024 13:30

"Lando reached too far. He had to. It didn't work. I watched it in person from Turn 12- and uttered bxxx sxxt about 10 times loudly protesting the illegal Lando pass.

On to Mexico."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by kenji, 23/10/2024 8:35

"@Mad Matt...sorry to double dip but another report I have just read [ quoting Brundle ] throws even more weight behind the penalty that was handed out to Norris was not supported by all the stewards as some wanted to add the additional 5 secs for track limits as well. There are also other reports claiming an unreported instruction to Piastri to reduce his lap time as if the double penalty was imposed then he would be placed fifth and Piastri would have a deserved fourth. Very seedy racing when Oscar had driven the wheels off his car to get the best result possible for both him and the team."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by kenji, 22/10/2024 23:58

"@Mad Matt....thanks for the response. My point was that, taking into account that McLaren should've immediately given the place back, had they done so then Oscar was right on Norris's rear and had the penalty been 10 secs then Oscar would've finished in front of Norris. I was under the impression that Norris had exceeded track limits so many times that one more infringement would attract a penalty... I was probably wrong there as it appears. All very confusing. The question I have is, as I have said in another thread, would the debate be the same if the roles were reversed..... Mexico should be a thriller both on and off track."

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

5. Posted by Spindoctor, 22/10/2024 13:19

"Notwithstanding how annoying the inconsistency is & how it ruins what remains of the "Sport" in F1, there is the little matter of all those millions of extra cash that go with success in winning. That decision may prove to have been worth a lot to RBR...."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

6. Posted by Mad Matt, 22/10/2024 9:47

"@kenji. Are you sure? I thought Lando was 4.1 seconds ahead of Max so for Oscar to have been a factor he would have needed to be in DRS range of Max and as far as I could see that wasn't looking likely.

On the subject of the rights and wrongs of the situation: It occurred to me that Lando had technically already overtaken Max on the straight (as far as I could see), so in terms of FIA rules they should have considered Max as the attacking driver which means he should have left space....

Time to move on...."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

7. Posted by kenji, 22/10/2024 1:25

"Further to this post it has been reported that McLaren did in fact order Piastri to slow down on the laps post incident!!! An attempt to 'fix/change' the race result by artificial means. Legally it would be interesting to have an opinion regarding Piastri's agreement to comply? Does that mean that he could be seen to be complicit if a challenge was issued? "

Rating: Negative (-1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

8. Posted by kenji, 21/10/2024 13:48

"I believed that there existed two reasons why Norris should've got a 10sec penalty. Firstly because he had exceeded track limits on 4occasions...5 secs. Secondly passing a competitor whilst off track and not giving the position back...5 secs. That would've then raised another problem for Stella and Whingealot because Oscar Piastri was only 1.5 secs behind meaning Norris would've finished in fifth behind Oscar. Not what was written in the new favoured No.1 son rules. What a SNAFU."

Rating: Negative (-1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

9. Posted by Pavlo, 21/10/2024 13:20

"Thanks Stella for closing the case: „… both cars went off the track and therefore both had an advantage.“
In this case it is „inappropriate“ that Lando got less than 10s.
If he admits that both got the advantage, then Max got the advantage of higher speed and lost a position - so it’s his second „strike“ of the day, and he is allowed 3. And Norris got one place up, which is 10s penalty according to the rules.
I would expect him to say that Norris lost time on the outside, because Max blocked him, but Max lost even more but it’s his problem. But if Stella says that Norris got an advantage, then the penalty is quick soft."

Rating: Positive (1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

10. Posted by Burton, 21/10/2024 11:55

"Forcing another driver off the track is an offence in itself; how can the stewards write all that and blatantly ignore this?. Also, Brazil '22, Max collides with Lewis and the stewards correctly rule that Max only was next to Lewis on track because he was carrying excess speed. Guidelines are just guidelines, they do not overrule common sense, the sporting regulations and the ISC."

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

11. Posted by Stitch431, 21/10/2024 11:19

""...because both cars went off the track and therefore both had an advantage..." The problem is not that they went off the track. That's just track limits. These are registered and actively follow the applicable rules. There is no punishment for that.

The penalty is for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Norris overtook Verstappen outside the track. That's the problem. And... in the first curve at the start, Max did not leave the track but stayed inside the track limits. Let's stay focused, Stella..."

Rating: Positive (4) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

12. Posted by rambler, 21/10/2024 7:32

"Again the teams and drivers need to push for trained qualified stewards, not has been, nobodies, dragged out of hospitality. "

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

13. Posted by kenji, 21/10/2024 7:28

"@Mad Matt, having viewed many times it seems to be rather ambiguous however the fact is that had Norris given the place back all would have been reset with one and a half/two laps left IMO. Verstappen drove a stonking race as did Norris. Plaudits have to be given to Ferrari...what excellent pace that car had and I was really
pleased to see Charles take the win. I was grossly disappointed with the Sky broadcast. There were some serious battles taking place but almost entirely ignored by the Director. Yes, the fight for the WCC/WDC is heavy duty but there are lots of followers of other teams/drivers that were ignored. Not really good enough."

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

14. Posted by Mad Matt, 21/10/2024 6:28

"I have to say the steward's decisions today seemed somewhat random and in this case it's hard to understand why Max was allowed to push Lando off twice with no repercussions.

In the second case it looked like Max wasn't really ahead (but I didn't look at any replays) but even if he was it was only because he was going too fast to make the corner without leaving the track.

As I say looking at others who were and weren't punished it all seemed a bit random today which is a shame as it's a circuit I like and there was plenty of action today."

Rating: Positive (3) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

Stewards decision "inappropriate", claims Stella

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page