The controversial Norris penalty against Verstappen, in detail: the reasons for it, what the regulations say and the reaction of the drivers

Lando Norris was allowed this Sunday at United States GP with a 5 second penalty at the end of the racesomething that cost him the podium, which went to his rival for the title, the current F1 world champion, Max Verstappen.

The decision of the commissioners was highly criticized and caused controversy on social networks. Lando received those penalty seconds when he passed Max Verstappen when both drivers left the track. Norris tried it on the outside, Verstappen tried it on the inside and the Briton had to go wide in the presence of his rival and friend on the inside. For the stewards, Lando Norris was investigated for “leaving the track at turn 12 and having an advantage”, thus violating article 33.3 of the F1 sporting rules.

The decision of the FIA ​​stewards

These are the arguments of the FIA ​​administrators in the official document:

“The stewards reviewed the data from the positioning/gear system, the video and the in-car video evidence. Car 4 (Norris) overtook car 1 on the outside, but it is not with car 1 at the top of the corner. “Therefore, as car 4 left the track and returned in front of car 1, it was considered a case of abandoning the track and taking a long-term advantage.”

“A 5-second penalty is imposed instead of the 10-second penalty recommended in the rules because, caught outside, “The driver of car 4 had no alternative but to leave the track due to the proximity of car 1, which also left the track.”.

That is, the commissioners suggest in that second paragraph Lando Norris may have been forced off the track as Verstappen took too long. And they highlight that one of the arguments for making their decision is that Max has priority because he reached the top of the curve firstbut they don’t emphasize that Max achieved this because he braked too late, a fact that certainly sent him wide and Norris may have been forced off the track.

That is, Max’s action could be the key to Norris’s trigger, and yet, the beneficiary is Verstappen. Because? Because the commissioners have only dedicated themselves to applying the regulations that have been drafted without considering cases like the one seen this Sunday between Norris and Max.

What do the regulations say?

Article 33.3 of the F1 sporting regulations states the following:

“Drivers must make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times and cannot leave it without reasonable cause (…) If a car leaves the track, the driver can rejoin, but when it is safe to do so.

Obviously, this regulation was written to prevent other types of reckless actions where a driver leaves the track to take advantage of it and overtake another rival.

And at the same time, the regulations say that the pilots “they cannot leave the track without reasonable cause”. Was Lando justified because Verstappen took too long? That’s what the stewards indicated in their previous text, but it was decided to punish Norris based on the rule: no overtaking on the asphalt, regardless of the reason why he left the asphalt.

The videos of the controversial action:

What do the pilots say?

“I lost the podium by overtaking on the outside. If you overtake outside the white line, it’s illegal. It doesn’t matter what other cars are doing. But until that moment we have a good fight, fair and hard. “I had a lot of fun,” he commented. Verstappen about this, it was made clear that for him there was no debate.

We both try and make mistakes,” he said. Norriswithout claiming his podium: “He made mistakes and so did I. But hey, I don’t know, it’s not up to me to decide. I don’t make rules. I have done what I thought was good, but I was wrong. I’ve tried and I haven’t advanced it yet”.