With just four laps remaining, Lando Norris came closest to passing Max Verstappen to take P3 at the US GP. Going into Turn One, the Briton went around the outside of the Dutchman and overtook him. However, he did that by crossing the track limits while Verstappen did the same on the inside. Then, why did only Norris get a five-second time penalty?
That was because the stewards adjudged the McLaren driver to have taken an undue advantage by violating the track limits. The reason why Verstappen did not get a similar penalty was that he was ahead of Norris at the apex. While McLaren felt their driver was the one ahead at the apex, Jolyon Palmer has debunked that notion.
The former F1 driver went through the helicopter footage which clearly showed Norris to be behind Verstappen at the apex. Hence, Palmer believes McLaren should have asked Norris to give the position back.
Yes.Yes,Verstappen was ahead at the apex but only because he outbraked himself and more importantly,went all4 wheels off the track.Should not be a penalty for Norris.Terrible decision by those clowns.#F1 #USGP pic.twitter.com/efW5mAxEZP
— Have F1 Stewards Misbehaved Again? (@f1_on_ice) October 20, 2024
Not only would that have helped them avoid the penalty, but doing so would have also given Norris ample opportunities to attack Verstappen before crossing the checkered flag. After looking at the footage, Palmer said,
“McLaren said he [Norris] was ahead of [Verstappen] at the apex. That’s an error from McLaren. He should have given up this position because, really, this one is pretty much a slam dunk that Norris was [going to be] penalized, and he was in the end.”
The FIA stewards saw it the same way and penalized Norris moments before he crossed the checkered flag. That effectively put him behind Verstappen in the final results despite the Dutchman being more than three seconds behind him when they crossed the finishing line. The result has seen Verstappen stretch his lead in the standings to 57 points.
Stewards reduced Norris’ penalty from 10 seconds to five seconds
As per the document released on the Norris penalty, the stewards were inclined to give the #4 driver a 10-second penalty. However, they felt he had no choice but to leave the track to avoid a collision with Verstappen. That led to the stewards deciding to reduce the penalty to five seconds.
The ‘reason’ section of the document read, “A 5-second penalty is imposed instead of the 10-second penalty recommended in the guidelines because having committed to the overtaking move on the outside, the driver of Car 4 had little alternative other than to leave the track because of the proximity of Car 1 which had also left the track.”
Owing to this reason, Norris also did not get a track leaving ‘strike’. Drivers are given a heads-up for two violations. A third violation results in a final warning through a black-and-white flag. A fourth violation is referred to the stewards for consideration for a penalty.
