Max Verstappen said he had no sympathy for Lando Norris’ frustration over his penalty in yesterday’s United States Grand Prix.
Norris was given a five-second penalty for overtaking Verstappen off the track at turn 12 on lap 52. The McLaren driver nosed ahead of his rival on the outside as the approached the corner, but both drivers went off at the exit of the corner.The stewards ruled that although Norris “had little alternative other than to leave the track because of the proximity of [Verstappen’s car] which had also left the track,” he was not entitled to take the position off his rival.
Asked whether he sympathised with Norris’ situation, Verstappen said: “No, I don’t.”
“I mean, they complain about a lot lately anyway, but it’s very clear in the rules,” he continued. “Outside the white line, you cannot pass. I’ve been done for it as well in the past.”
McLaren raised concerns earlier this weekend over the existence of a front bib adjustment device on their rival’s RB20 which could have allowed them to alter the its front ride height in parc ferme. Red Bull insist they have never done this.
Verstappen insisted there was no doubt Norris’ move was illegal. “I think it’s quite clear, you can’t overtake outside of the white line,” he said.
“I got done for it also here in, I think, 2017 or whatever it was. So I lost my podium like that. So I just remained calm, tried to do the best I could after that to bring the car to the end because it was not easy with the tyres and the situation that I was in. But overall I still really enjoyed that battle that we had.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella strongly criticised Norris’ penalty. “It’s a shame that Lando’s race was affected initially by Max pushing him off in turn one and then, once the hard job of recovering the position on Max was done, thanks to good pace and strategy, he lost the podium because of a penalty we don’t understand nor agree with. We feel this was an inappropriate way to change the result of a race.”
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2024 United States Grand Prix
- McLaren insist stewards made ‘provable error’ after losing bid for review of Norris’ penalty
- Why McLaren’s focus on Verstappen’s driving failed to overturn Norris’ penalty
- Stewards reject McLaren’s request to review Norris’ United States GP penalty
- McLaren know Norris’ penalty is likely to stand – so what do they hope to gain?
- McLaren request review of Norris’ penalty for off-track pass on Verstappen
Jere (@jerejj)
21st October 2024, 10:16
The key difference with 2017 is that Kimi didn’t leave track limits & Stella couldn’t be more right.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st October 2024, 10:35
Yes he could. Lando races like he’s competing for a championship against a pushover; he should know, because we all know, that Max races to the limit of the rulebook.
And anyway, it’d have been all good without that Turn 1 mistake. For god’s sake, how can you leave the door open like that at the first corner of a Grand Prix against your championship rival?
David BR (@david-br)
21st October 2024, 10:55
@fer-no65 How exactly do you stop Verstappen’s move at Austin turn 1? Most pole sitters suffer the same problem. Extra difficult with Max. Stay left and he’ll force the issue, a collision, and you’ll be at fault for nor allowing room. Allow room and he’ll push you wide, completely ignoring the non-rivals for the championship but making sure you (Norris) are off track and behind. Knowing full well that the FIA stewards are still eating coffee and eating their last donuts during the first lap. Nothing to see ever (unless Red Bull order them to look).
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st October 2024, 12:11
He left that gap, didn’t he? he got away better… could’ve hugged the inside line before Max went for it. He actually dived down the inside, but up the hill he was behind. Make him go outside.
Ofc I’m saying this sitting in my office and not in a F1 car, but I just don’t see it as good, decisive defending. Max would’ve never let him to go there in the first place if the roles were reversed!
David BR (@david-br)
21st October 2024, 12:39
@fer-no65 I kind of agree with you TBH, just making the case for that corner being particularly difficult to defend. But Norris should have been ready for what happened and thought of an effective counter-tactic. Seems he never has those in his toolkit, though. It’s why I rate Leclerc much higher as a driver and a possible championship contender.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st October 2024, 16:44
Yeah, I also don’t rate Lando particularly highly because of these missed opportunities, and the mistakes here and there. He seems to lack that last percentage that makes a driver a dominant one in all areas.
Max is just showing him how to race for a championship.
Señor Sjon
21st October 2024, 15:04
Verstappen had shown him the day before how you cover the inside of T1 on Lap 1.
Nick T.
21st October 2024, 10:35
Yeah, that wasn’t at all a similar case. And Max’s off track pass was pretty hilariously egregious too. Max can’t really say “yeah, Lando got screwed,” but he could probably be more diplomatic. OTH, Brown and to a lesser extent its drivers, have been slinging mud at Red Bull nonstop. So, I wouldn’t really expect either side to be diplomatic about anything at this point.
Sadly, it’s the TPs/execs, who are supposed to be the adults in the room/leading by example, who have been the least gracious and undiplomatic Zak following in Toto’s footsteps to become especially obnoxious this year. Stella OTH is usually diplomatic and non-hyperbolic when he voices criticisms.
Constantijn Blondel
21st October 2024, 11:38
It’s funny but in Dutch the word “Zak” is used coloquially to refer to someone who’s acting a scumbag. (The actual meaning is a bit stronger than that, but I can’t really type that without censoring myself (which, like any self-respecting Dutchperson, I won’t :) ).
Nick T.
21st October 2024, 11:57
That’s pretty hilarious. I usually refer to him as a “Zak of Brown,” as in sack of…but I usually use another word when expletives are not banned. And same meaning of course.
Speaking of comments, I just read this, “If they really modified the car in parc ferme, it would be more than cheating, Vasseur told Sky Italia. “It would be huge.” lol, I’d really like to hear old Fred, who I actually find to be likable, explain what “more than cheating” would be. I’m sure it’d basically translate “Well, really big cheating! Not your normal cheating.” A little bit rich coming from Ferrari who had one of the most illegal engines in history for two seasons though Fred was obviously not there at the time.
Nick T.
21st October 2024, 11:58
translate to*
Constantijn Blondel
21st October 2024, 16:09
:) :) :)
I’m with you on Fred. I can’t help but like the guy and in between all the teamprincipalese I think he often has interesting things to say.. I like his really dry sense of humour. But yeah, it’s always good fun hearing straight-faced comments from team principals who suddenly turn into altar boys the moment it’s not them who are under scrutiny
MacLeod (@macleod)
22nd October 2024, 8:28
Problem is they showed the FIA I think there are images/movies of how they adjust the rideheight of the BIB which was opening the car above the brakes and then reaching all the way inside which was easy to spot for any FIA person next to the car (scrutineer & camera above the car)
So easy to adjust for in Pratice saving a lot of time (instead of removing part of the chasis and/or floor)
ludewig
21st October 2024, 12:28
It really just means sack, and when used for a person, that is short for ball sack.
Constantijn Blondel
21st October 2024, 16:11
Yes, you’re right of course – but I wouldn’t translate it that way into English, because going around calling people a “sack” in English would probably rather get me blank stares than a lick of the cat o’ nine banhammers. :)
Nick T.
22nd October 2024, 6:33
Well, then my calling him a ball Zak or a Zak of Toto is more appropriate than ever.
Margus Parv
21st October 2024, 18:25
“Zek” is a Russian slang word for “prisoner” or “inmate”, coming from заключённый (zakliuchyonnyi) which was usually abbreviated to “з/к” in Soviet paperwork, and pronounced as “зэка” (“zeh-KA”), usually in reference to a person who’d been imprisoned by the Soviet Union in the infamous gulag system for crimes against the state.
Nick T.
22nd October 2024, 6:34
There was a movie where Warner Herzog played “the Zek.” A ruthless criminal who had survived the gulag.
MichaelN
21st October 2024, 14:42
Stella is wrong, of course. Team principals never have anything to offer beyond ‘what we did was right, what they did was wrong’. No matter if the roles are reversed next time. His attempts to call into question the validity of the stewards’ decision is something the FIA shouldn’t tolerate. This constant moaning by people who should know better is dominating headlines because controversy drives engagement, but it’s obscuring a fun event with a great winner everyone loves (on that, Vettel was most certainly right).
Also, all this Norris-Verstappen stuff is hiding the real story: Lawson and Alonso becoming rivals! Now there’s a storyline this season didn’t know it needed! Add in some generational misunderstanding with Lawson posting all of Alonso’s snide private remarks on his social media… It has potential.
MichaelN
21st October 2024, 10:31
The difference with 2017 obviously being that Verstappen cut the corner rather than running wide, while Räikkönen remained on track then and Verstappen did not now. And whereas Norris says he feels he was in the right but leaves it at that, Verstappen back then engaged in an angry tirade with racist slurs about the stewards and said he hoped nobody would visit the US race the following year. Talk about complaining!
But, and a crucial one, Verstappen is only playing to the rules the race director has cooked up. This “ahead at the apex” stuff is an open invitation to this sort of ‘defending’. Ditch the race director’s silly notes, and apply the real rules. Problem solved.
GK
21st October 2024, 16:31
The “ahead at the apex” stuff hasn’t been cooked up by the race director. It’s a part of Driving Standards Guidelines, referred to by the stewards in their decision.
David BR (@david-br)
21st October 2024, 10:51
Verstappen sadly unable to judge how to make a corner without outbraking himself again and exceeding the track limits.
The fact his championship rival is on the outside is completely coincidental (say FIA stewards).
In hindsight (which never works of course) Norris should have let Verstappen stay ahead after he’d been forced off track or immediately returned the place and seen whether the FIA stewards would have penalized Verstappen as they had other drivers (hope springs eternal). In fairness to Norris, that did seem to be his own instinct.
Would they have? Probably not.
Verstappen did what the rule book and the FIA steward interpretation guideline, ‘Verstappen special clauses,’ allow him. He judges these limits perfectly, on and off track. I wasn’t irritated, though, until I saw him in the cool down room lecturing the Ferraris on why the FIA stewards had called it right – completely failing to mention what was obvious to everyone watching the replays (Leclerc and Sainz included) that he’d forced Norris off and gone off himself. Which their silence obviously indicated. It just oused ‘entitlement.’ And yet another instance of FIA stewards (or directors) giving Verstappen an unfair advantage in these situations.
mr a
21st October 2024, 11:18
This is now a major issue, tbh.
The issue is in the rules and in the circuits. Max is just VERY good at exploiting them. It’s not racing, it’s not cheating, but it’s certainly somewhere in the middle.
We need to get rid of this “ahead at the apex” rule and go back to the old Fernando phrasing of “always you must leave the space”.
Max gets these positions by getting ahead at the apex then just running wide – he’s been doing it for years and he’s been allowed to. In my opinion it’s not fair racing. The space should always be left, and if you force another car off at the apex then you didn’t leave the space.
Getting rid of the tarmac and replacing it with grass or gravel is only half the solution – you can still just force your rivals off if you’re ahead at the apex.
SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
21st October 2024, 11:32
It is not Max his fault. He just exploits the rulebook to his advantage. Max is always in complete control of his car. You know when he doesn’t make it to the turn, it is because he doesn’t want to. His attitude is the same as the greats of the past. This is very Senna- or Schumacher-esque.
I wish Lando had a more similar mindset. He is way too nice, trying to be friends with everyone. Even yesterday he was very cautious about it. While right now Max is basically calling him a whiner. Lando lacks a true killer mentality and it is what you need when you fight Max.
Laurent
21st October 2024, 11:42
Well, if he always does it, then there’s an easy way to avoit it : just hit the break sooner and let him miss the corner, then you’ll cross him at the exit like they did when we were young.
Grapmg
21st October 2024, 11:56
Sorry to say David some of your arguments make sense but the moment you start about the biased FIA, stewards, Verstappen special guide lines etc then I can’t take it seriously.
David BR (@david-br)
21st October 2024, 12:37
It’s not a conspiracy theorey per se. more that I think (a) when Max arrived they very openly decided to ‘allow hard racing’ – specifically after the clashes between Max and Charles Leclerc, and (b) Red Bull apply a lot of pressure and (it seems) have the extra leverage enjoyed by the big teams (with Mercedes their only peer at present, Ferrari and McLaren a level down). Combined – their aggression and team influence – it means that we get the kind of poor decisions seen in 2021 and now in 2024 when Red Bull are under more serious pressure for the titles.
Grapmg
21st October 2024, 13:33
Oke fair that is how I feel about the British influence on F1 and Zak now’s exactly how to use that through media putting pressure on the FIA. But influence on rules and guidelines is one thing. But if stewards or race directors are pressured or called biased by team principals that’s a step to far
Nick T.
22nd October 2024, 7:06
While I don’t disagree with all of his post, David is incapable of being objective when it comes to any driver who has been a bitter rival of Lewis at any point in the past. So, yeah, you to need to take this with a big pinch of salt.
Drivers should have regulated Max themselves when the stewards failed, but they didn’t. They just whined.
MacLeod (@macleod)
22nd October 2024, 8:29
Yes that rule should be adjusted or removed.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
21st October 2024, 11:39
Unfortunately, in the cool down room they didn’t show the incident. I’d love to see the driver’s reaction if they had shown Verstappen vs Norris and immediately after Sainz vs Verstappen because that was a carbon copy, one with penalty the other one without…
David BR (@david-br)
21st October 2024, 12:33
@roadrunner Really? My bad. Verstappen was discussing the incident though, right? I assumed there was a replay at the time (my screen was maybe too small to see properly).
miciek (@micio)
21st October 2024, 12:47
No they didn’t show it and I think that wasn’t a coincidence.
Grapmg
21st October 2024, 13:07
Sainz on Verstappen was an overtake on the inside. While Norris Verstappen on the outside. How can you claim these are carbon copy. Sainz didn’t stay on track so how can he claim that Max should give up that position?
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
21st October 2024, 13:18
Because Norris had already got ahead of Verstappen on the straight. So Verstappen tried to repass Norris on the inside (a bit like Leclerc vs Perez in Baku). Both, Verstappen and Sainz braked too late on the inside, both claimed the apex and both run wide and took their relative opponent with them. And both times the car that was forced off (IMHO rightly so) retook the position.
Grapmg
21st October 2024, 13:36
Oke that’s also a way to look at it. I think most will see it as a outside pass from Norris. But you got a point there because Norris was partially ahead on the straight.
Glad Im not a steward way to complicated :-)
miciek (@micio)
21st October 2024, 12:50
Agreed that Max’s driving style should have long been dealt with.
Its simple. They both left the track because of the defending driver’s decision. That means that there wasn’t any overtaking there. They both left the track and Norris recovered better.
Esteban
21st October 2024, 23:00
You talk nonsense.
but then,
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
21st October 2024, 12:51
I hope he gets punted off the next few races. Come on Sainz
Nick T.
22nd October 2024, 6:36
That’s really the problem with F1 drivers, especially today. Unlike in other racing series, they don’t take regulate bad behavior themselves, which works very well. They’re soft as cotton balls. It’s why I really liked when Norris ran into Max in Austria even if it ended up backfiring.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
21st October 2024, 13:03
Verstappen is the biggest complainer and cheater of all time in any sport so it’s quite hilarious to hear that.
And for anyone who thinks he’s a good driver, his #1 skill is crashing into drivers and his #2 skill is pushing them off the track. And in case you didn’t figure it out, it’s one skill. It’s just that Norris avoided 2 crashes yesterday.
Osnola
21st October 2024, 13:28
Sounds a bit like @freelittlebirds indeed.
You have a tendancy to bend facts and adore fiction:)
Mayrton
21st October 2024, 13:46
I am sorry but that spot is reserved for Felipe Massa.
Patrick (@paeschli)
21st October 2024, 21:50
Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton clear Verstappen with quite some margin on that metric
Nick T.
22nd October 2024, 20:14
Cool story, bro. So, which F1 drivers are any good in your opinion then?
Carl Parker (@mysticarl)
21st October 2024, 13:13
Someone enlighten me with this, as it’s not being discussed much.
Russel gets a penalty for forcing a driver off the track by overtaking up the inside and not leaving space on the outside, part-way through the race. Regardless of Merc’s general feeling on it, by the guidelines it was a penalty.
It was exactly the same move that Max made into T1 on the first lap, but he doesn’t get a penalty. There’s no way that should be covered under the ‘T1 anything goes’ guidance because they’re at the front, he can’t claim he was in any way made to act that way by the driving of anyone else. So why wasn’t he penalised?
M2X
21st October 2024, 13:16
Russell made contact with Bottas.
MichaelN
21st October 2024, 13:20
Because it was lap one and Norris took avoiding action.
Mayrton
21st October 2024, 13:45
He is not wrong, they do complain a lot lately. Must be hard for them to compete at the top. Not yet championship material this team and their drivers, but I hope they keep improving (and do it in a legit matter and not this wing trickery).
FanatikosF1 (@fanatikosf1)
21st October 2024, 18:13
McLaren fan since 96 here! They are not championship material, especially the drivers! Norris has the pace but severely lacking wheel to wheel battle mentality! Piastri doesn’t have the pace but it seems that he is a little bit better on occasions fighting for position. How much I miss Mika, JPM, KR, Lewis, Button…even Coulthard! He would have given Max a run for his money if he was 28 and driving this year…
McLaren need top tier drivers and there is none around except Max, Lewis, and Alonso
Patrick (@paeschli)
21st October 2024, 21:52
Never easy fighting for your first title. If McLaren manage to be the best team from race 1 next season, there is no reason Lando Norris can not get himself a title next season.
Mayrton
22nd October 2024, 7:12
He could do a Jenson then indeed. But stronger would be if he outperforms the car rather than having to wait until the car hands him victories.
Esteban
21st October 2024, 23:03
If you miss Coulthard you really are a McLaren fan! Myself, I miss Prost, Senna and the two Flying Finns.
Well, they’re the team who doesn’t like to win at all costs, according to Zak Brown.
Nick T.
22nd October 2024, 20:15
Can you imagine how crazy JPM vs Max would be?
Moi
21st October 2024, 13:59
eh, Max beats British driver -> British media (inc forums) go QQ.
Really, did anyone expect differently?
Mayrton
21st October 2024, 14:06
Not really no. Just look at the nr of articles only today and only on this site: 8 .. and counting. Hilarious. I’d rather see 8 articles on the stellar performance of Ferrari or how well Colapinto and Lawson performed. They’ll have to so with just a small article.
MichaelN
21st October 2024, 14:55
While I’m usually on board with highlighting the pro-English bias in much of F1, this is an on-track battle between the two title protagonists. Of course it’s going to be contentious and thus commented on by many people involved and discussed by viewers.
And the fact remains that Verstappen, as the stewards noted, “had also left the track”. It’s one thing to agree with drivers running others off (still wrong, but a popular a view in F1), but quite another when a driver runs another off and also runs wide themselves. That’s just Forza Horizon levels of driving, not F1. So that’d be controversial whoever was involved, especially in the context of a title battle.
baasbas
22nd October 2024, 8:27
And then there is this article:
In that thread there is no comment on that headline and why it is wrong.
Frank
21st October 2024, 14:59
In a strange way, this season has some 1995 vibes.
It has the incidents, ruthless driving, runaway title leader, a challenger leaving points on the table, strategic errors,, calls for team orders, and a champion that maximises every opportunity.
The only differences so far are that the car development has trended in oppossite directions and that multiple teams can win on merit.
David West
21st October 2024, 15:05
Norris was forced off the track yet gets the penalty, he’s justified in his complaint.
Alex
21st October 2024, 15:51
If Andrea Stella does not understand the penalty so he probably did not read the standard rules and was caught by surprise, which is unacceptable from a team chief. And it is easy to blame the other driver in this case instead of looking to his own mistake of not telling Norris to give the position back, get the head down and try to overtake again for the next 4 laps. Total leadership flaw.
Mayrton
22nd October 2024, 7:32
I agree. These are the wrinkles they need to work on in order to become a serious contender. Lot’s of work to do as this is one of many mistakes they made this year. Their thinking is not from a winners perspective yet, which at first makes sense given where they were the last decade.. but by now they’ve had plenty of time to adjust this season but failed on several occasions thus far.
Edvaldo
21st October 2024, 17:04
Max doesn’t need all this protection.
He forced Norris off the track first. What happened with “forcing a driver off the track”?
You either hand both 5-second penalties or nothing.
Simon
21st October 2024, 21:32
‘McLaren “complain a lot lately” says Verstappen’
https://shorturl.at/js3Dn
Esteban
21st October 2024, 23:04
We need another article about this (this is NOT British bias and insanity).
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
22nd October 2024, 8:22
I preferred it when Max wasn’t talking to the press.
Dale
25th October 2024, 19:29
Max cheats a lot.
McLaren complain a lot.
Cause and effect