The stewards’ decision to hand Lando Norris a 10-place stop-and-go penalty for ‘failing’ to slow down under yellow flags was one of the most controversial penalties of this season. Former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan is still fuming at the stewards’ decision and has urged the FIA to get their act together.
“What is going on with the FIA,” a furious Jordan told co-host David Coulthard on the Formula for Success podcast when asked to share his thoughts about Norris’ harsh penalty. He added that he “may get banned” from going to the Grands Prix for expressing his frustrations in such a manner but at this moment, he does not care.
“I just do not see that the FIA is behaving properly, the stewards are behaving properly. It was wrong,” an adamant Jordan added. The Irishman went as far as suggesting that the penalty given to Norris may result in conspiracy theorists claiming that the stewards made such a decision to favor Ferrari in their bid to win the Constructors’ title.
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Norris‘ stop-go penalty indeed resulted in a huge debate, as one would expect with McLaren losing several points as a result. The Briton eventually finished P10 as opposed to second, where he was running for most of the race before he received the penalty.
This means that McLaren potentially lost out on 17 crucial points that could have almost sealed the title for them as they would have then arrived at this weekend’s season finale in Qatar with a 38-point lead over second-placed Ferrari as opposed to 21.
Nonetheless, the way they have started this weekend’s Abu Dhabi GP so far, they are likely to win their first Constructors’ title after 26 years.
McLaren and Ferrari have polar opposite starts to Abu Dhabi GP weekend
With McLaren heading into the season finale in Yas Island with a healthy lead in the standings, it was well-known that Ferrari needed a near-perfect weekend to have any chance of beating the Woking-based outfit for the title. However, they seem to have got exactly the opposite.
With Charles Leclerc only managing to qualify 14th and having to serve a 10-place grid penalty for this weekend, he will start the Abu Dhabi GP from the back of the field. While Carlos Sainz did manage to qualify third, he will start behind the two McLarens, who have locked out the front row.
Norris set a blistering lap time to clinch pole as he was over two-tenths quicker than his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. With McLaren starting from the front, they have pretty much sealed the title as all they need to do is finish the race ahead of the Ferraris.
