MEXICO CITY — McLaren is pushing to overturn Lando Norris’ Formula One time penalty in the closing stages of the United States Grand Prix after submitting a right of review to the FIA stewards.
Norris received a five-second time penalty after he was deemed to have overtaken championship rival Max Verstappen off of the race track with four laps remaining at the Circuit of The Americas.
The penalty dropped Norris behind Verstappen to fourth place in the final classification, causing Verstappen’s championship lead to grow to 57 points with five rounds remaining.
However, McLaren has taken a step toward overturning the penalty after submitting a right of review to the FIA, which will see the case reviewed by the stewards.
The penalty has proven controversial due to how Verstappen defended against Norris. The Red Bull driver was also off the track when Norris made the overtake, sparking frustration from Norris and McLaren over the penalty.
For the matter to be re-opened, McLaren will be required to provide a “significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the party seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned.”
If the stewards deem this new element admissible, they will review the case in the second part of a hearing.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said after the race he doubted that new and relevant evidence existed “because the only evidence that we have used so far to assess our interpretation, which is in disagreement with the stewards, is what is already available.”
Teams often use new video evidence to argue their case in these kinds of hearings as a way to present it as being new and relevant.
The hearing will take place on Friday at 2:30 p.m. local time in Mexico, between the first and second practices at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Red Bull has also been summoned to send a representative to the hearing.
The penalty against Norris has led to driving standards being a regular talking point through Thursday’s media day ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix. A number of drivers have called for greater consistency from the stewards and questioned the current driving guidelines that police overtaking.
Norris said that he had yet to speak with Verstappen about the incident. “He did what I guess he thought was right, I did what I thought was right,” Norris said. “I still disagree, and I think as a team, we still disagree. I think the majority of people who were watching disagreed with the penalty that I got.
“But I’ll make the changes that I need to make, whether it’s being more aggressive at times, or less aggressive, or whatever. I’ll do what I think is right.”
Verstappen did not feel there was any need to chat with Norris. “We always said that we wanted to race each other hard,” he said. “That’s what we like to do.”
GO DEEPER
F1 stewards are back in the spotlight after ‘inexplicable’ U.S. Grand Prix penalties
Top photo: Sipa USA
