Lando Norris is penalized after overtaking Max Verstappen off the track – The stewards justify their decision to penalize Norris
Once again they collide, once again there is controversy. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris once again fought a gripping duel at the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas, which was not without controversy. This time, the focus was on a penalty against Norris, who overtook Verstappen off the track after the latter had pushed him off the track.
The stewards decided that Norris had to be penalized, causing him to drop back behind the Red Bull at the finish line. Five points lost in the fight for the world championship instead of five gained. And the decision is controversial, as initial reactions show.
But how do the stewards justify their decision? In a document with the inconspicuous name “Doc. 70”, stewards Garry Connelly, Loic Bacquelaine, Derek Warwick and Dennis Dean justify their decision:
“The stewards have consulted data from the tracking system, videos [from the outside] and onboard recordings from the vehicles.”
“Car 4 [Norris] overtook Car 1 [Verstappen] on the outside but was not level with Car 1 at the apex. Therefore, under the Driving Standard Guidelines, Car 4 had lost the ‘right’ to take the corner.
“As car 4 left the track and returned in front of car 1, this is considered to be leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.”
A big moment in the race and potentially the season
Norris overtakes Verstappen but picks up a 5-second penalty for passing off track ✋F1 USGP pic. twitter.com/y1DFXGde0U
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 20, 2024
“A 5-second time penalty will be imposed instead of the 10 seconds recommended in the guidelines because, when overtaking on the outside, the driver of car 4 had no other option than to leave the track because car 1 was in close proximity and had also left the track.”
Norris escapes further penalty
Incidentally, the next paragraph saved Norris from a further penalty: “In light of the above, we decide not to count this [the off-track excursion] as a ‘strike’ for car 4.”
The duel was Norris’ third excursion off the track and his last warning. Immediately afterwards, he crossed the track limits again, which would have meant a further five penalty seconds if it hadn’t been for that one sentence in the document.
Max Verstappen sees it similarly: “It’s pretty clear. You can’t overtake outside the track. I lost a podium here in 2017 because I overtook outside the track boundary.” He is alluding to a duel with Kimi Räikkönen.
LAP 52/56
Through goes Norris but he’s off the track when he does
The McLaren driver hasn’t given the place back. The stewards are investigating F1 USGP pic.twitter.com/oDmpRvOYDM
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 20, 2024
Norris, of course, sees it differently: “For me, the key point is that what Max did was not right. Namely, defending his position by leaving the track and holding his position. That is not correct.”
“He went off the track because he defended too hard and made a mistake. In the end, he benefited from it. At the same time, I had to leave the track because of him.”