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AUSTIN, Texas — After a weekend that started with controversy between Formula 1 title rivals Red Bull and McLaren, it’s perhaps fitting that it end the same way.
The technical battle between the two teams from earlier in the week will no longer be ‘talk’ as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris go wheel-to-wheel in the most frenetic battle since the Austrian Grand Prix. It happened. collision.
This time they avoided contact, but it wasn’t as dramatic. Norris was given a five-second time penalty after stewards deemed him to have passed Verstappen off the race track with four laps remaining. He was sanctioned by the stewards on the final lap, costing him third place in the final standings.
However, the fact that Verstappen also went off the track at Turn 12 during the battle confused Norris. Why was he penalized when he had no choice but to do the same thing?
“He went off the track defensively, defended too much and made a mistake,” Norris said in the media pen after the race. “So (he) benefited from that.”
Norris admitted he did not understand the decision and questioned whether the stewards had rushed to ensure a decision was made before the checkered flag. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella lamented that the stewards had “interfered with a beautiful piece of motorsport" in an “inappropriate” way, after both cars went off the track and gained the advantage.
With tensions already high between Red Bull and McLaren, the call to the stewards room was the latest flashpoint in the race between the two F1 champions.
The mid-race battle between Verstappen and Norris started in Turn 1. (Sipa USA via Associated Press)Where will the battle go?Both would have liked the late battle to be for more than third place, given their title aspirations and the front row lockout. However, Ferrari’s superior race pace gave Charles Leclerc the upper hand, while Carlos Sainz easily undercut Verstappen in the pits to take second place, giving the Italian team their first lead since Australia in March. It resulted in 2 finishes.
Norris dropped from first to fourth at the start after Verstappen’s aggressive charge to the inside allowed both Ferraris to sneak forward. Norris was unhappy with the action on the radio, but was determined to keep his head down and pull Verstappen back.
Norris built up tire delta by running six laps longer in the opening stint, and with fresher rubber was able to corner Verstappen and close in on the Red Bull with 13 laps remaining. After acquiring the drag reduction system, overtaking in the P3 seemed like a formality. If he finishes fourth, Verstappen’s net loss for the weekend after his sprint win will be just one point. It’s definitely a success in terms of competing for the title.
That’s not how Verstappen approaches racing. On multiple occasions he covered the inside at the end of the straight into Turn 12 and then placed his car perfectly into the cutback, giving Norris no chance to line up properly with the Red Bull. Despite faded tires and balance issues, the Dutchman held on to his position.
Lap 52 saw Norris closest to Verstappen at the exit of the hairpin, allowing him to run side by side with DRS before reaching the braking point. Verstappen braked a little later, but drove over the white line on the exit of Turn 12. Norris similarly looped even wider and moved to the front in third place.
Verstappen immediately jumped on the radio to tell him that Norris had passed him off the track and should give him back the position, and repeated the call two more times. Race engineer Giampiero Lambiase promised that Norris would qualify, pointing out that Norris also violated track limits and that Red Bull expected a penalty.
On the final lap, race control confirmed that Norris had received a five second time penalty. He crossed the line 4.1 seconds behind Verstappen, meaning he dropped back in the final position, but crucially extending his championship lead to 57 points.
Norris disagreed on the merits of the penalty. (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Why Norris was penalized
F1 racing rules are always a source of debate among drivers, especially around corners like Turn 12, where drivers are often constantly running wide during battles. Oscar Piastri received a time penalty for forcing a driver off the track in a sprint race, which caused some drivers to become confused. Stewards accused Pierre Gasly of overtaking off-track at the same spot during the Grand Prix.
Norris admitted after the race that directing such a battle was a “tough job”, but explained that with Verstappen defending on the inside, he had no choice but to retire.
“It’s impossible for people to know if I could have been on the track or not,” Norris said. “You can’t control things like that, but that’s the rule. They changed it because of what happened in Austria (late in the match) when Max went off the track without being penalized and gained an advantage. Because it seems quite contradictory. There is another contradiction, and it is difficult.”
even deeper
‘Inevitable’: Max Verstappen and Lando Norris’ first real F1 battle ends in tears
Norris also failed to explain his side of the argument and McLaren could not contest the in-race time penalty, saying the latter was “also stupid, because they’re just speculating.” he lamented. I don’t think management should be done that way. ”
Stewards eventually issued a bulletin explaining the time penalty, stating that Norris was “not on the same level as (Verstappen) at the apex”, meaning the McLaren driver lost the “right” to the corner. Ta.
“Therefore, because (Norris) left the track and returned in front of (Verstappen), he is deemed to have left the track and gained a permanent advantage,” it read. Stewards added that the fact that Norris had “little choice” but to run off the track because of Verstappen was taken into account, but that giving him a five-second penalty instead of 10 was just a mitigating factor.
Norris took the verdict in his chin, saying that even if he didn’t understand it and wanted clarification from the stewards, “there’s not much you can do other than just accept it.” I’m sure this topic will be brought up in the next F1 Driver’s Briefing.
Verstappen felt it was simpler. “I think it’s very clear,” he said. “No overtaking is allowed outside the white lines,” agreed Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who said it was McLaren’s choice not to ask Norris to give up his position.
Stella remained completely unimpressed by what happened after the race and suggested that journalists might be scrutinizing the statistics regarding Verstappen’s defensive movements. “How many times has Max used this method to save where both cars have gone off track?” he said. “If we can get an advantage, I think both cars have an advantage.
Verstappen dismissed questions about off-track travel and any frustrations McLaren may have. “They’re complaining about a lot of things these days anyway,” he said.
“The rules are clear: you can’t overtake outside the white lines. I’ve ended up with that in the past.”
Verstappen extended his lead over Norris to 57 points. (Chris Gracen/Getty Images)
championship impact
While Verstappen and Norris disagreed on the penalty, they could agree on the quality of the battle over the final 13 laps.
Norris has always enjoyed battling Verstappen, but this year it was an even battle as McLaren matched and even outperformed Red Bull. He called today a “great battle”, praising the Red Bull driver’s defense and pointing out how important it was to commit to his movements when battling Verstappen. “With Max, you can’t go half-assed,” he said, ultimately taking responsibility for allowing him to overtake him at Turn 1.
“If I had defended better in Turn 1 and not driven like a Muppet…I would have been in the lead after Turn 1 and we shouldn’t have had this conversation in the first place,” he said. spoke.
The difficult part for Norris is that this ruling, and the six-point change it caused in the standings (the difference would have been 51 points if he had finished third), dealt a blow to his championship hopes. . This result brought an end to his run since the summer break, where he had been constantly catching up with Verstappen to take the top spot in the rankings. The weekend in Austin destroyed the momentum McLaren had spent months building.
With a 57-point lead and only five rounds remaining, the numbers are working against him.
“This is a momentum killer,” Norris said. He doubted it was possible to beat Ferrari in Austin, but said: “The one I have to beat is Max, and the guy who didn’t win today is Max.” So overall it was a unsuccessful weekend.
“But we gave a good chance. I tried. It wasn’t enough. We have work to do and I have work to do myself.”
Verstappen may not have been happy with the feel of his Red Bull for much of the race, but the upgrades at least put the team back on the right track competitively. Most importantly, he extended his championship lead.
“That’s definitely a positive thing,” Verstappen said. “We expected to perform a little better today, so we need to analyze today why it wasn’t as good today.”
(Top photo of Lando Norris: Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
