25/10/2024
NEWS STORY
McLaren has instigated a right of review of the penalty meted out to Lando Norris in Austin in a bid to have the Briton reinstated to third position.
The youngster was penalised for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, in that while both he and Max Verstappen ran wide in Turn 12 whilst battling for third position, in the process the McLaren driver illegally passed his Dutch rival. As a result a 5s penalty was imposed.
The stewards deemed that Norris was overtaking Verstappen on the outside, but was not level with the Red Bull at the apex. Therefore under the Driving Standards Guidelines, the McLaren driver had lost the "right" to the corner.
Accordingly as he left the track and returned in front of Verstappen, it was deemed to be a case of leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage. As a result 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.
However, in view of this, the stewards determine that this would not count as a track limit "strike" for Norris, which would have meant a further penalty.
Arriving in Mexico, Norris admitted to still being baffled by the penalty.
"He did what he thought was right and I did what I thought was right," he said of the incident. "I still disagree and as a team we disagree.
"I think what we saw with George and Bottas's version in some ways was very similar to ours, he said of the incident earlier in the race which saw the Mercedes driver penalised. "I was completely ahead of Max, I was over a car length ahead of him. I was no longer the attacking car, he was. I was ahead of Max, I was having to defend, he was the one attacking me and effectively he has gone in too hard and overtaken off the track.
"I simply maintained my position so it is something I am sure we will discuss as it has been a big talking point since last weekend. A lot of other drivers didn't agree with it, teams didn't agree with it.
"The point is that he only stayed ahead of me at the apex because he went off the track, he would not have been ahead at the apex if he braked where he should've braked and stayed on the track. I think that is obvious."
McLaren subsequently took advantage of its right to essentially appeal the penalty by instigating a right of review, whereby the Woking team must introduce new evidence that wasn't available at the time the penalty was awarded.
The hearing, which will involve the COTA stewards attending by means of a video conference will take place between Friday's practice sessions and it is understood the Red Bull has been summoned to attend.
In 2021, Mercedes sought to show that Verstappen broke the rules whilst battling Lewis Hamilton, arguing that on-board footage from the Red Bull which supported its case had not been available to the stewards at the time they made their decision.
The German team failed in its bid for while the stewards accepted that the new footage was evidence it was significant enough to consider reviewing.
The hearing will take place in two parts, however the second part will only take place if the stewards agree that there are grounds for the original decision to be reassessed.
If successful, Norris' pass on Verstappen would be deemed legal and the Briton would be credited with third place whilst the Dutchman would drop to fourth.