Lando Norris said he didn’t see any yellow flags after he was penalised for failing to slow in reaction to them during the Qatar Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver was given a 10-second stop-go penalty, one of the strongest sanctions the stewards can apply, for failing to slow for double waved yellow flags.The yellow flags were displayed when a piece of debris was spotted on the pit straight approaching turn one. The mirror, which fell from the right-hand side of Alexander Albon’s was left untouched for several laps during which race control initially displayed yellow flags, then withdrew them.
Norris said he was unaware the yellow flags were displayed. “Honestly, I don’t know what I’ve done wrong at the minute under the yellow,” he told Sky.
“I’m not an idiot. If I knew there was a yellow I would have slowed down. I don’t know if I missed it or just been dumb.”
However he said he had no concerns over the penalty. “The rule is, if you don’t slow down in the yellow, that’s a penalty,” he said. “So it’s a fair penalty.”
Norris was running second at the time of his infringement. His penalty meant Ferrari reduced McLaren’s lead in the constructors’ championship, which will be decided in the final race next week.
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“Of course it’s an opportunity missed, that’s quite obvious,” said Norris.
“The team gave me a great car today, so I’m thankful for the team. Disappointed that I couldn’t have done a worse job than I did today and not give them the points they deserved so I’ve made the job of the team much harder than it needs to be. The team are doing a great job but I’ve let them down.”
The stewards gave Norris three penalty points on his licence for the incident, which are his first three of the current 12-nonth period.
“The telemetry and on-board audio clearly showed that the driver of car four [Norris] did not make any reduction in speed in the yellow sector. The double waved yellow flags and yellow lights were clearly visible to him.
“Compliance with the yellow flag rules is paramount for the safety of all parties and this requirement is clearly noted in the first item of the race director’s event notes at every event.”
This article will be updated.
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2024 Qatar Grand Prix
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Jere (@jerejj)
1st December 2024, 18:28
A silly error, but McLaren still didn’t lose more than 9 points relative to Ferrari, so the WCC is still in their control.
Nerrticus (@nerrticus)
1st December 2024, 21:51
McLaren lost 9 points but if Lando held 2nd they would gained 9 points. It was an 18 point swing. Still in their control but it could have been all but locked up.
RH
1st December 2024, 22:18
He could have won. He claimed McL were the quicker car today himself. McL on Hards looked beautiful.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
2nd December 2024, 1:45
Yes, an unneeded risk though: ferrari knew they’d be the weakest in qatar, so now if by any chance they turn out with a faster car in abu dhabi than mclaren, they could potentially gain enough points, especially if a mclaren retires, which can always happen, to cause mclaren to lose the first title after 26 years.
Having said that, ferrari are also chasing a title for 16, so not little either, but mclaren overall would deserve the title this year for the car they brought, the best on average.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
1st December 2024, 18:29
Pretty balanced response from Norris, glad he is taking ownership. Unfortunately, this one is on him – he just missed the yellow flag, and given his response here I’m sure he’ll admit that when he sees the replays. For anyone thinking that Norris is wrong about the penalty being fair – Raikonnen in 2017, and Mazipin and Latifi in 2021 all received the same 10 second stop-go penalties for failing to slow under double yellows. It’s a safety issue and the penalty is set in stone – the stewards don’t have a decision to make on what penalty should be imposed.
dif
1st December 2024, 18:32
do the stewards have the decision WHEN to impose the penalty?
SPArtacus
1st December 2024, 19:42
It was the right thing to say, but as I said elsewhere, why I find this whole thing especially absurd, ironic and cynical is because what we’re really talking about here is the diff between pretending to respect the yellow – a momentary feathering of the throttle which barely alters the speed that other drivers do and did – and failing to pretend, which is how drivers handle single yellows on a straight.
cdavman (@cdavman)
1st December 2024, 20:06
Exactly this.
I guarantee Norris wasn’t the only driver who went basically flat out through there. It was most likely investigated further because Red Bull kept raising it, whereas other teams did not.
As you say, how is a momentary lift any safer, which is all Verstappen and others would have done?
200mph past that point on the track or 190mph past that point is still fundamentally unsafe, yet one will get a huge penalty and the other will not.
They should have thrown a VSC and be done with it. The TV commentary kept saying that they reckoned the race director didn’t want to do that in case it advantaged/ disadvantaged someone. Simple fix – update the rules to allow the race director the discretion to throw a VSC and close the pit lane if it’s deemed necessary. Or perhaps even close the pit lane for pit stops but mandate that all drivers under VSC have to drive through the pit lane (as they did behind the safety car anyway) if track conditions mean that it’s safer. Track could have been cleaned, and all racing gaps maintained.
Patrick (@paeschli)
1st December 2024, 20:53
If everyone respects the absurd rule but Norris does not, that still gives him an unfair advantage.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
1st December 2024, 22:20
I agree that double yellows should be enforced more vigorously, after all the rulebook says “slow down and be prepared to stop”. I don’t see how driving at 160mph after a small lift is being prepared to stop. However, this is the way the rule is enforced and as such the penalty is consistent with previous penalties for similar incidents. You can argue that the lift is symbolic more than anything, but maybe what they really want is for the drivers to show that they are aware of the yellow flag warning and are looking out for potential hazards.
An Sionnach
1st December 2024, 20:13
Yes, fair play to Lando. I was wondering if the severity of the penalty was that he failed to slow at all under yellows. That was the only explanation. The stewards have access to more data than anyone. If they thought he should be able to see it and he didn’t see it… it’s hard to see everything while driving these cars. The team should at least ensure that their drivers are aware. Did they tell him? A lot of things happened very quickly. It’s too bad there were so many interruptions. Would have liked to see what would happen had Max and Lando made it to the pit stops.
MichaelN
1st December 2024, 21:25
Of course the stewards have a decision to make. As per article 54.3: “The stewards may impose any one of the penalties below on any driver involved in an Incident”.
The stop and go is simply the harshest possible penalty shy of an outright disqualification. (Technically this isn’t entirely true, as the stewards can also give ‘a time penalty’ (no limits), but for all practical purposes, the stop and go is the second harshest penalty.)
Broderick Harper (@banbrorace)
1st December 2024, 18:42
Yes. I get annoyed when people moan about so called Sky bias, but the increasingly terrible Button’s response was terrible.
If you don’t get one of the most severe penalties for not slowing down to a yellow flag – then when do you get one.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
1st December 2024, 19:36
@banbrorace I don’t know what was said on Sky as I was watching on F1TV (It’s miles better than Sky) but both Jolyon Palmer & David Coulthard disagreed with the severity of almost every penalty handed out.
They completely agreed that things like ignoring yellow flags (Norris) & speeding in the pit lane (Hamilton) warranted a penalty but felt that the penalties given were hards & confusing given past penalties for such incidents have seen much lesser penalties.
The general sentiment in the F1TV comm box was anger/frustration at the lack of consistency and that if something has been changed this weekend to go for harsher penalties it’s not been communicated to them and they also felt it was unfair to make such a change during a season when other drivers may have also been given lesser penalties for the same things.
They pointed out on the broadcast that they last time someone got a penalty for speeding in the pit lane it was a 5 second time penalty and that the last time someone was penalised for ignoring yellow flags in a race it was also a time penalty.
SPArtacus
1st December 2024, 19:59
First of all, there’s a big difference between a yellow and a double yellow let alone a double yellow in a turn. Second, there’s no precedent for such a severe penalty for missing a single flag. Above all, the other drivers weren’t slowing, just gave a perfunctory feather of the throttle. So, LN was barely even 2-5 mph faster than others (I’d like to see speed traps from that lap).
It almost felt as if the stewards were trying to compensate for the appearance of the Max decision by going way overboard with Norris and many of the other penalties.
FTR, I’m someone who’s felt top British drivers have received moderately favored treatment from stewards over the years & I’m not a Lando fan. I just want consistency + a light touch.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
3rd December 2024, 9:27
I don’t agree they went overboard. The tiny number of other examples of the same infraction over the last 14 seasons all received the same penalty.
SteveR (@stever)
1st December 2024, 20:09
Except this wasn’t just a simple speeding in the pit lane. This was speeding in the pit lane while following the safety car with the entire field going through the pits.
SteveP
3rd December 2024, 8:27
So, all line astern and no advantage to be gained and no pit lane staff likely to jump across the front of them.
But the rules are clear.
SPArtacus
1st December 2024, 19:56
First of all, there’s a big difference between a yellow and a double yellow let alone a double yellow in a turn. Second, there is no precedent of such a severe penalty for missing a single flag. Most importantly though, the other drivers weren’t slowing, they just gave a perfunctory feather of the throttle. So, Lando wasn’t even traveling more than 2-5 mph than other drivers (I’d like to see speed traps from that lap).
It almost felt as if the stewards were trying to compensate for looking biased with the Max decision by going way overboard with Norris and many of the other penalties.
FTR, I’m someone who’s felt top British drivers have received moderately favored treatment from stewards over the years & I’m not a Lando fan. I just want consistency + a light touch.
Imre (@f1mre)
1st December 2024, 18:45
The LED started flashing just as he was alongside it. (so no chance seeing them) Then there were physical double yellows for about 200 meters before it turned green again. No lights on his steering wheel.
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
1st December 2024, 19:05
How was he supposed to see it?
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
1st December 2024, 19:33
@f1mre Max lifted before Lando arrived at the yellow flag area, so this can’t be the case.
Nikos (@exeviolthor)
1st December 2024, 19:59
This was on the first lap when the yellows were shown. Norris did not slow down on the next lap as well.
Verstappen was helped by his team who told him that the yellow was still out. McLaran only told Norris to stay on the left because there is a mirror on the track.
Nikos (@exeviolthor)
1st December 2024, 20:05
I watched it again and I was wrong.
As you said, the LED indeed started flashing just as Norris passed it. The double yellows were already out, though. Verstappen did not have the LED signal either, but he slowed down for the yellows.
DaveW (@dmw)
1st December 2024, 18:49
Did Russell get the same penalty after it was “noted.” Find hard to believe these were the only two who did not just feather the throttle for .2s down the straight. I have a feeling other teams are going to look at video and protest if it means a 35s penalty.
RandomMallard
1st December 2024, 18:57
@dmw I also struggle to believe that they were the only two who possibly ignore the yellows…
BasCB (@bascb)
1st December 2024, 19:19
Wait, Russel also got a penalty for this?
DaveW (@dmw)
1st December 2024, 22:29
I thought Russell got noted for the yellow flags but apparently it was for the safety car distance rule. And he got penalty points for that. But somehow no time penalty. I think it’s odd you can have a delict bad enough for points but no time penalty. But may it’s because his crime didn’t advantage him in the race.
BasCB (@bascb)
2nd December 2024, 7:13
Not really, it seems the only reason for that is that there is no fixed mandatory penalty for what Russel did wrong (leaving it to the stewards to decide what is appropriate), while there is one for not slowing for waved yellows (mandatory stop and go, not leaving the stewards any leeway to even consider the circumstances).
SteveP
3rd December 2024, 8:33
Others have pointed out, there is quite a bit of choice.
I’m going to put it down as “anti-British bias” :)
joe jopling (@jop452)
1st December 2024, 18:56
Penalty was harsh enough, but 3 points as well
Neil (@neilosjames)
1st December 2024, 19:51
I was surprised to see a 10-second stop-go, but only because I feel like I’d been conditioned to believing failure to slow for yellows had a lower default penalty. I can’t remember well enough to flick through a mental catalogue of similar recent offences for comparison, but my brain’s telling me they haven’t been as harsh before.
Going forward, I’m in favour of the harshest ‘normal’ penalty being used for ignoring double yellows, along with a correspondingly high number of penalty points. It’s one of the most dangerous everyday driving standards breaches, so should be met with the worst punishment.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
1st December 2024, 19:53
The penalties this weekend have been completely inconsistent and gone against what was handed out for the same incidents up until this point.
I feel that with penalties for contact and racing incidents the stewards should have the ability to come up with penalties that suit each particular incident because no incident is the same and that while a 10 second penalty for one incident may be perfectly fair it may end up been too harsh for another.
But with things like speeding in the pit lane, ignoring yellow flags etc… there needs to be a standard penalty which is the same each time somebody commits that offence.
It’s just not right for one driver to get a time penalty for speeding in the pit lane one race only for another to get a drive-thru for the same offence later in the season.
Nikos (@exeviolthor)
1st December 2024, 20:13
I have not read the stewards reasoning for giving Hamilton a drive through instead of a time penalty, but I think that it is because he was behind the safety car when he was speeding in the pit lane.
Also when he realised that he had forgotten to activate his pit lane limiter, he hit on the brakes so hard that Norris almost crashed into him.
SteveP
3rd December 2024, 8:36
That would be impossible, unless Norris was directly behind him and going at the same, excess, speed.
SaMa (@f1g33k)
5th December 2024, 4:54
It did happen as Norris locked up his brakes. Yes, Hamilton had a larger gap due to the higher speed approaching the pit lane but braked so hard to compensate that he fell below the pit lane speed limit and Norris had to brake hard as well as his approach speed was higher when Hamilton braked.
Mark (@mrcento)
1st December 2024, 21:11
The Stop/Go is a fair penalty for that breach. Flags have to be respected at all times. First point of communication of danger, marshals may be on track prematurely before a SC or red comes out for all the driver knows at that moment. For all the issues today there were, the 1 thing they did correct was show such a penalty still exists and can be applied for something there should be no tolerance over. Now it has to happen consistently.
The reason it ‘feels’ harsh to a lot of people is because how under utilised the Stop/Go has become and how common the lazy 5/10 second time penalties are applied for what are often quite serious incidents themselves that warrant far more. If they were applied correctly and the Stop/Go was utilised more often when it should be, everyone would look at Landos today, shrug and go ‘yeah fair enough’.
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
1st December 2024, 23:47
@mrcento
No the reason it is harsh is because it’s massively inconsistent because in dozens of other similar incidents (including this season) that has not been the penalty for doing what Lando did.
If the penalty had been consistent with past precedent (Again including this season) I don’t think anyone would have an issue. But it wasn’t consistent and therefore is unfair as Lando got penalised harsher than others who have done similar.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
1st December 2024, 21:22
That is exactly what I told the police after going through a red traffic light. Got fined.
SteveP
3rd December 2024, 20:44
Which can be the case when an ambulance on an emergency call does the same
Michael (@freelittlebirds)
2nd December 2024, 3:44
Those flags are not easy to see – I think they need two sets at that distance if the light isn’t working. If you’re looking at something else for a split second or your sight is on the right side, you could miss them especially at the speed you’re going through there.
They should have had some on the right side as well.
It’d be quite something if the championship comes down to poor visibility of yellow flags and a badly timed LED.
Carl Parker (@mysticarl)
2nd December 2024, 20:17
I’d like the stewards to review every driver’s data to prove that every other driver lifted, and any that didn’t penalise them with a large time penalty retrospectively. If you’re going to go all out on a penalty to make an example, then make a proper example.