Why McLaren driver Lando Norris thinks Formula 1 penalties are too lax and what he thinks the current attitude of the stewards could lead to
Lando Norris thinks the penalties handed out in Formula 1 are too little of a deterrent. His thesis: “Penalties in general need to be tougher. You get away too easily with so many things. “
Norris points to a grid penalty of three positions for holding up a competitor in qualifying, for example. His observation: “[Such a penalty] doesn’t really interest anyone. Because if your car is fast enough, you don’t care about the three positions.”
“That’s why I believe: harsher penalties would have to be handed out for this to stop. [A penalty transfer of] three positions and a five-second penalty don’t stop you from doing anything.”
He said this is also demonstrated by situations in which drivers pass an opponent off the track. That’s not allowed in Formula One and usually results in a five-second time penalty. And Norris says, “Some drivers deliberately go for it because in some cases there is an advantage for them despite the penalty. “
Overtaking in the run-off zone: sometimes intentional?
“We’ve had this very topic so many times in the drivers’ meeting. It comes up every time,” says Norris, citing turns 1 and 2 at Barcelona as an example of a spot “where you can pass two opponents in the run-off zone.”
“You can prepare for a situation like that pretty easily,” Norris explains. “And I’m pretty sure we came to the conclusion [in the drivers’ meeting] that drivers do that on purpose, too. That’s exactly what we discussed. That that’s how you can pass someone and easily pull away by five seconds.”
Especially on tracks where overtaking is difficult, this could be exploited as a tactical tool, Norris says: “In Monaco, for example, if you shortcut the chicane. “
Norris recognizes lack of consistency among sports commissioners
The World Automobile Federation’s (FIA) stewards would have responded to driver requests for more deterrence through harsher penalties by suggesting a driver must give back the illegally captured position directly.
But the Formula One sprint in Austin, with several such incidents, “set a precedent where [giving it back] is not required,” Norris said. “So there’s a bit of a lack of consistency there again, which surprises me a little bit. There was a pretty clear guideline of what would happen in such a case.”
He said he himself knew what to do: “If it was your mistake, then you just give the position back. You took the risk, you decided to do it, so you should drop right back. “
Russell overtakes Piastri alongside the track and is penalized
That’s exactly what Mercedes man George Russell didn’t do in the Formula 1 sprint: he had passed McLaren driver Oscar Piastri in the duel for P7 coming out of turn 18 and had been off the track. For this, the stewards handed out the usual five-second penalty, which cost Russell a position on balance.
For Piastri, the way Russell overtook him was “pretty obviously” a rule violation. “He’s clearly accelerating alongside the track and passing me like that. I don’t see how you could even argue about a 50-50 situation there. And the five-second [penalty] didn’t change his race much,” Piastri says.
He, too, criticizes the penalty: “With a fast car, you can afford something like that, especially in a long race. And I don’t think it’s so great for everyone involved. Especially since it shouldn’t be difficult to restore the old positions.”
Currently, however, the small penalty carries a certain risk: “If there are only five seconds for such an action, maybe it’s an advantage if you do it on purpose. Because if you’re in a faster car and you want to overtake, that could be a temptation. “
Russell does not want to have acted intentionally
For the specific case in Austin, Russell insists he “did not intentionally” overtake in the run-off zone. He had simply launched an “optimistic” overtaking attempt against Piastri, in which he had to expect to be pushed off the track by Piastri.
Russell: “I tried it because I thought if he was nice [and left space], I’d get the position. “
