Start crash, Hungaroring, 2021

Norris says Bottas deserves big penalty for “stupid” first-corner crash

2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

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Lando Norris says Valtteri Bottas deserves a significant penalty for triggering the crash which put him and other drivers out of the race.

The Mercedes driver ran into the back of Norris at the start of the race, sending him into the side of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Norris and Bottas were forced to retire, while other drivers were eliminated in the incident and others.

Norris said he was “annoyed” by the collision and retirement, which ended his 15-race run of consecutive points finishes.

“Lap one, I don’t know why that has to happen,” he told Sky. “Why risk doing those kind of stupid things? But there’s nothing I can do so not a lot to say.”

The crash is being investigated by the stewards. Norris, who has collected several penalties earlier in the year, is clear Bottas deserves a penalty for today’s crash.

“Of course, if I get a penalty for not even doing anything wrong in other tracks, then he should deserve a much bigger penalty than what I got,” said Norris. “So we’ll see.

“I hope they have some common sense and they do what they should do, but it’s not up to me at the end of the day.”

Perez also blamed Bottas for the collision, saying the Mercedes driver had made “a big mistake” and it was up to the stewards whether he deserved a penalty.

“I think basically Bottas lost the car in the beginning,” said Perez. “I thought it was Lando but it’s that Bottas just made a big mistake and took everyone out of the race. It’s a big shame.”

The Red Bull driver revealed his power unit was also damaged in the collision. “It’s a massive blow for us as a team,” he said. “We also lost the engine, very likely.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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23 comments on “Norris says Bottas deserves big penalty for “stupid” first-corner crash”

  1. Nah, we’ve alteady established that we can’t apply a penalty based on consequences!
    3 place grid penalty for next race and 3 points on license. Anything more and I’ll eat my hat.

    1. RandomMallard (@)
      1st August 2021, 15:58

      @eurobrun 5 place grid penalty and 2 points on his license in the end

      1. @randommallard well I’m gonna trade off the 1 less penalty point against the 2 extra grid places and keep my hat undigested 🙄

        1. RandomMallard (@)
          1st August 2021, 16:17

          @eurobrun Fair enough ;-)

          I’d have done the same. Small victories and all (interested to see the predictions results this weekend)

        2. okay Euro Brun, you just managed to save your stomach :)

        3. Didn’t Grosjean get a race ban after his large crash in Spa? Correct me if I’m wrong but that was just a small misjudgement that lead an enormous crash.

  2. Agreed, but he won’t get one, for reasons already outlined by Euro Brun.

    I thought that was very amateur, from both him and Stroll. All the rookies managed to get around.

  3. Why why why, didnt Hamilton / Mercedes come in for slicks. They could have prepared for this when they were on the red flag.

    as we speak has now pitted for a 2nd time, on to hards. Strategy call by Mercedes comes in for Hamilton to pit into clearn air, after hamilton complains he can’t pass the cars because of dirty air. Verstappen takes the bait and pits too, but Hamilton undercuts him. Finally Nice call Mercedes. If Hamilton keeps the position he gain over Verstappen.

    Its looking like Hamilton might pit again, the trouble is this track isn’t suited for overtakes, so having fresh tires at the end may not benifit Hamilton if he can’t over take.

    1. No radio on parade lap. Hamilton had to think if I pit and fast cars don’t I’m stuck behind them on the first lap and I still come out behind a lot of them after they pit on lap one. But they should have called that one on the grid. They threw away a win there.

      1. @dmw

        But they should have called that one on the grid.

        +1

      2. As @dmw mentions, they are not allowed to talk to the drivers on the formation lap Ajaxn. And after the race Hamilton mentioned that his team had been talking about another bit of rain being expected soon after the start, so he went along with what the plan had been.

        I guess it’s hardest to judge for the guy who’s first. After the guys right behind him pulled into the pits, it was almost a no brainer to the rest of the field.

        1. But didn’t Ocon’s team tell him (during the formation lap for the restart) that the other drivers are coming in for a tyre change?
          I’m confused about if that is against the rules or not.

  4. Diving a Mercedes the penalty will probably be 10 seconds added to his next race time…

  5. DarkSchneider
    1st August 2021, 17:01

    Second time a Mercedes causes Verstappen crash in two races, and second time a Mercedes cause a Red Bull having problems with their engine (due to the crash).
    No conspiration, here, just facts.
    No matters if it was deliberate or not.
    Cause, consequencies

    1. The earth is definitely not a sphere, anyone who has been taught that it is, has been lied too.

      No conspiracy here, just facts.

      Now obviously if I left the above two sentences like that, you would not be in the wrong to accuse me of, no matter what I say, being a conspiracy theorist. Those two sentences however are factually accurate, the earth is in fact an oblate spheroid, or in layman’s terms, a slightly flattened sphere with a bulging middle. It’s a way, using text, to be deliberately misleading without saying anything that is technically incorrect, relying on the complexities and vagaries of the English language to lead your reader to the conclusion you want. It’s the kind of writing skill the screamsheets want, they want someone who can manipulate others to the outrage they want to stoke without causing their tabloid paymasters to have to apologise or turn up in court.

      1. Ellipsoid

  6. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    1st August 2021, 20:06

    I’m not sure about this one – sure Bottas caused all the crashes but he locked up on a really slippery track and he was having trouble with that wheel at the start… He wasn’t aggressive or tried to gain back his position…

    Why penalize him when he got taken out? I get the sympathy penalty for all the other drivers but he didn’t do it on purpose and it’s on Turn 1. What’s a racing incident these days?

    1. Are you serious? No penalty because he didn’t mean to do it? LOL

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        1st August 2021, 22:29

        @pastaman Well, 1st turn incidents are judged very differently than other incidents. He didn’t do anything silly and he took himself out in the process. It’s not like another car didn’t suffer the same fate behind him… 2 seconds later, another car did the exact same thing.

        1. pastaman (@)
          2nd August 2021, 2:36

          @freelittlebirds A first turn incident is when someone unavoidably makes contact with another car due to the nature of many cars trying to navigate the same section of track. These incidents were completely avoidable from both drivers which is why they both received penalties. Just because it happened turn 1 lap 1 does not absolve a driver from making avoidable mistakes. Otherwise, what’s to stop someone from taking other people out and just labeling it as a “turn 1 incident”. It is your responsibility as a driver not to plow into the car in front of you. This is basic stuff, man.

          1. True but it’s also when all of the cars are bunched up together and mistakes are more likely. Not an excuse. More caution would have been warranted from both drivers.

  7. Hi, I just rewatched the restart – it was actually Russell’s engineer who told him on the radio that the rest of the pack is going in for a tyre change.
    Does that mean Russell’s get a penalty?

  8. It’s like saying you want to convict him.

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