FIA rejects McLaren request to review Norris penalty

Formula 1’s governing body has rejected a request by McLaren to review a penalty handed out to Lando Norris in the United States Grand Prix.

The five-second penalty, for overtaking title rival Max Verstappen off the track, demoted Norris behind the Dutchman from third to fourth place in the race results.

Stewards for governing body the FIA rejected McLaren’s submission on the grounds that it contained “no relevant new element”.

McLaren had questioned the stewards’ verdict on the grounds that it was based on an “error” in assessing the incident.

Norris was penalised because he had not fulfilled F1’s driver overtaking guidelines, which dictate that for a car overtaking on the outside to be afforded space by the defender on the inside, their car’s front axle must be ahead of the front axle of the car on the inside at the apex of the corner.

McLaren argued in the hearing that Norris was in fact the defending driver because he had already overtaken Verstappen on the straight before the two cars braked for the corner in question, Turn 12 at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

If that argument was accepted different sections of the overtaking guidelines would have applied, notably that Verstappen would have committed an offence by forcing Norris off the track.

But the stewards ruled that McLaren’s assertion was “unsustainable” because “the concept that the [stewards’ decision] was the significant and relevant new element, or that an error in the decision was a new element, is not sustainable and is, therefore rejected”.

McLaren said in a statement: “We disagree with the interpretation that an FIA document, which makes a competitor aware of an objective, measurable and provable error in the decision made by the stewards, cannot be an admissible ‘element’ which meets all four criteria.”

The decision means Verstappen keeps the 57-point lead he holds over Norris heading into this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, with five races to go and 146 points still available.

The incident between Norris and Verstappen has led to significant debate in F1, with many drivers feeling that Verstappen, while complying with the letter of the rules, was breaching racing ethics.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton said on Thursday: “You shouldn’t be able to come off the brakes and run more speed in and go off the track and still hold your place.”

Hamilton’s comment summed up a widespread view in F1 that Verstappen’s default defence in such situations should not be allowed.

The three-time world champion has on a number of occasions employed a tactic whereby he releases the brake sufficiently to comply with the rule requiring him to be ahead of the apex but then runs wide off track, taking his rival with him.