After battling for around five laps with Max Verstappen, Lando Norris overtook the Dutchman on track to take P3. However, as he crossed the checkered flag, the Briton received a demotion and finished behind Verstappen. That was the result of a five-second time penalty that Norris got for receiving an unfair advantage by going wide off the track to overtake the reigning champion.
His teammate Oscar Piastri, however, believes the penalty was ‘harsh’. The Aussie driver cited his own example from the sprint race a day before. Having been in a similar position to Verstappen’s, Piastri took a five-second penalty for a similar incident. The stewards judged him to be in violation for forcing Pierre Gasly off the track.
Expressing his support for Norris in the post-race interview with F1TV, Piastri recalled, “I’ve seen the incident a bit and, pretty harsh, I would say. I had a very similar incident yesterday in Max’s position and I was the one who got the penalty. I’m sure we’ll have some questions about that.”
Andrea Stella was left unimpressed by the stewards’ decision to give Lando Norris a 5-second penalty at the end of the #USGP: pic.twitter.com/MO4xWePWvr
— The Race (@wearetherace) October 20, 2024
Will Buxton, one of the interviewers on the panel, picked on Piastri’s assessment to further probe him on the incident. Buxton asked the #81 driver if he felt the stewards did not have enough clarity on the rules.
Piastri said it was possible as two different penalties for similar incidents proved it. However, he also sympathized with the stewards and felt judging such incidents was hard.
Piastri added that things could have been different if a gravel trap had been placed instead of the run-off area. That could have easily ended Norris’ race and the stewards would perhaps have found Verstappen in the wrong for running him wide off the track.
Norris takes a massive hit in the championship fight with Verstappen
McLaren did not start the US Grand Prix with a similar dominance that they enjoyed prior to the three-week break. The struggles were visible right from the solitary practice session and this saw Norris lose the pole position for the sprint race to Verstappen while qualifying in P4 himself.
The #4 driver recovered only to finish P3 and bag six points while the Dutchman took away eight points as the winner. Finishing the main race one place behind Verstappen has further cost Norris three points.
The gap to the defending champion has now widened to 57 points with just five more races and two more sprint races remaining. While it is a herculean task with Red Bull once again making progress through upgrades, Norris is still mathematically in the running for the title.
