After an intense multi-lap battle between championship rivals Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen and McLaren Racing’s Lando Norris, third place at Sunday’s United States Grand Prix race was ultimately awarded to Verstappen after Norris was handed a controversial five-second penalty for gaining a lasting advantage after leaving the track.
Despite starting on pole, one position ahead of Verstappen, Norris could not retain the lead and was pushed wide after he and Verstappen went side-by-side into Turn 1. This brought both Scuderia Ferrari drivers into play with Charles Leclerc, who had started from fourth, getting ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz and both Norris and Verstappen. While Verstappen, who had remained on track and ahead of Norris through their first lap coming together, was able to keep ahead of Sainz, Norris found himself unable to recover. He slotted into fourth, ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri but behind Sainz.
Though Norris appeared frustrated with the events, expressing his opinion that Verstappen had pushed him off the track, there was no intervention by the stewards, allowing Verstappen to continue his race unpenalized. Norris would ultimately spend the first stint of the race unable to catch up to Sainz, and though he would eventually take a brief lead after the respective pit stops by Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc, he was unable to create a sufficiently large gap to retain this lead after he was eventually brought into the pits on lap 32 to change onto the hard tyres.
With his tyres being several laps fresher than Verstappen’s Norris was able to close the gap between them, and on lap 44, launched an attack for third place against Verstappen. Though Norris remained on the tail of his RB20 for several laps, Verstappen defended well, holding onto his third place, despite struggling with his car.
On lap 52, however, Lando Norris finally managed to get ahead of Verstappen into Turn 12. However, the Red Bull remained defensive, culminating in a near-collision which saw both drivers go wide at the apex. Despite going significantly off track, Norris rejoined ahead of Verstappen, taking third place ahead of his championship rival. Despite the controversial nature of the incident, and Verstappen himself noting that Norris had overtaken him off track, McLaren opted not to cede the position, resulting in the matter being noted by the stewards.
Ultimately, the stewards deemed that Norris had left the track and gained a lasting advantage in the race – a breach of Article 33.3 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Code – and subsequently handed Norris a five-second time penalty. As stated in the FIA United States Grand Prix Document 69, the stewards, after a review of relevant evidence, deemed that Norris had not been level with Verstappen at the apex of Turn 12 and, under the Driving Standards Guidelines, had not had the “right” to the corner, and therefore, had breached Article 33.3 by gaining a position on Verstappen after leaving the track.
However, as noted in Document 69, the stewards acknowledged that Norris had not had a good alternative other than to leave the track due to his proximity to Verstappen who was noted as having also left the track. This was deemed a mitigating factor and as a result, the stewards opted to impose only a five-second penalty on Norris instead of the recommended ten-second penalty and deemed that the incident would not count as a track limit violation by Norris.
With Norris unable to create a five-second gap between himself and Verstappen by the end of the race, he was demoted to third place, behind Verstappen, after they had crossed the finish line.
While speaking after Sunday’s race, Norris was asked about this incident, and whether he believed that his team’s decision to not immediately hand the place back at Verstappen had been a missed opportunity for a podium finish.
“It’s impossible to know,” Norris replied, before explaining that he believed that the decision had been a difficult one for the stewards, as evident from the length of time that they had taken to impose the penalty. However, he stated that he believed that Verstappen had also been at fault for the incident, highlighting that the Red Bull driver had also gone off track and, in his opinion, gained an advantage through his actions.
“I mean, they obviously can’t make their minds up for a few laps so it’s obviously not an easy decision otherwise it would have come a bit sooner, so I tried.
“He also went off the track so if he goes off the track clearly, he’s gone in way too hard and also gained an advantage by doing what he did but I don’t make the rules so.”
He later confirmed that he did not fully understand why he had been penalised. While he acknowledged that the stewards had had a difficult job with the matter, from his perspective, Verstappen had also been in the wrong as he had kept his position by going off track.
“It’s tough. There’s different alterations of things. It’s a tough job to steward these kinds of things.
“For me, whatever I did, I did. For me, the point that is incorrect is what Max did, which is also defend his position by going off the track and what effectively, would be keeping his position, which is not correct.
“He went off the track by defending. He’s over-defended and made a mistake and therefore he’s gained from that. At the same time, because of that, I’ve had to go off track.”
He added that he believed that it was not possible to properly steward the matter as people could not accurately predict the outcome of the situation.
“It’s impossible for people to know if I could have made it on the track or couldn’t, therefore you could not steward that kind of thing.”
While Norris acknowledged that the decision had been based on the rules as the stewards understood them, he stated that he believed there was often some inconsistency in how they were applied.
“But the rules are the rules.
“They seem to change because I feel like it’s quite inconsistent from, say, what happened in Austria when Max didn’t get the penalty and went off track, gained an advantage. So, I think there’s like an inconsistency but it’s tough.”
He added that he also believed the decision to award him a penalty had been a rushed one that had been made without allowing him, his team or Verstappen to explain their views on the incident. While he acknowledged that the decision would have been made as it had been to prevent any alteration of the points distribution or the drivers’ finishing positions, he viewed the matter as having been handled incorrectly.
“For me, it’s a rushed decision and they don’t hear or understand our points, which they should do after the race. They just want to make a decision at the time, so you don’t alter points and podiums and things like that.
“But therefore, it’s a rushed decision and they don’t hear my point of discussion or my team’s point, Max’s point which I don’t think is maybe the most correct thing.
“Today it was a penalty and not a lot I can do apart from just accept that.”
Despite having taken issue with the “rushed” decision of the stewards to penalise him, Norris stated that he had no choice but to accept the penalty as it stood. He also acknowledged that despite its controversial end, the battle between himself and Verstappen had been tough but enjoyable, as Verstappen had driven and defended “very well”.
“I tried. We both tried. It was a great battle. I enjoyed it, it was very tough. Max drove very well and defended very well. But he ended up on top.
“I don’t think we can appeal this kind of penalty which is, again, a silly thing because they’re just guessing.”
When asked if he disagreed with the way that the matter had been handled, Norris replied, “I don’t think that’s how stewarding should be done.”
However, he reiterated that he was complaining about the stewards themselves as he did acknowledge the difficulty of their job and that his dissatisfaction was based on them having not heard the perspectives of the parties involved.
“But It’s a difficult job for them to do. So, I’m not complaining against them. I think there’s just more the fact that they don’t see everything, understand everything as well as we do when we’re inside the car.”
The McLaren driver also addressed the first-lap incident between himself and Verstappen. When asked if he thought that he could have done anything differently to prevent himself from losing the positions that he had, Norris admitted, “Yeah, potentially.”
However, he added that he needed to review the race start further, explaining that the battle between himself and Verstappen had been tight and admitting that his experience of the events from within the car could have influenced his perspective.
“I need to go look at it again. It was pretty tight. Obviously, Max went for a tight gap.
“From inside the car, it’s obviously harder to say on some things and also easier to say with some things.”
“A bit of clarity but if I defended better in turn one and wasn’t driving like a muppet.”
He did, however, claim, that Verstappen had gone off the track and subsequently, gained an advantage into Turn 1, but did not directly state whether he believed that Verstappen should have investigated or penalised.
“He obviously committed quite a bit, which he’s got the right to do but again he went completely off the track, so I don’t know.
“I need to look back at it. At the same point, he’s overtaken by going off track, so I don’t know what I’m going to want to do.
“He defends by going off track. He overtakes by going off track but I’m not going to complain about it.”
The McLaren driver explained that on both occasions where he and Verstappen had battled for position, the 27-year-old had gone off track as he had significantly committed to keeping him behind. However, he stated that this was just Verstappen’s style.
“I think both times Max went off the track he had a lot of commitment to keep me behind. The thing is, with Max, you have to commit. People don’t understand that kind of thing. With Max, you can’t just go half-hearted.”
Norris admitted that he did not know whether his failure to keep ahead of Verstappen at the beginning of the race had been a result of him under-committing but claimed that regardless, he believed that Verstappen had over-committed. He criticised Verstappen’s move saying that he found it odd that the move had not been investigated or deemed illegal as he believed that it would have been had the move been committed at another time.
“Turn 1 is a bit harder to say whether it was because I didn’t commit enough but the fact that he committed so much speed in that he again went off the track. I mean, I can’t just dive up the inside of someone run off and you keep the position [in] a normal running, but for some reason, it’s completely okay in Lap 1 Turn 1.
“So, it’s a tough one. Yeah, I don’t know. It hurts today.”
While Norris summarised that the Lap 1 incident at Turn 1 had more likely been as a result of him underperforming in the moment, he stated that he believed Verstappen to be more at fault for the Turn 12 incident towards the end of the race.
However, the McLaren driver acknowledged the variety of challenges the drivers often faced while in the car and said that he respected the battle that he and Verstappen had been able to have despite them.
“I think Max drove very well.
“I think it’s very hard to do what we’re doing. It’s hard when you’re side-by-side, you’re completely on the inside of the track, to guess where your braking marker is. You’re going quicker than you have before because you use the battery, the tyres are older, there’s different bumps, there’s a lot of dirt.
“We’re battling and we’re fighting hard. So I respect the battle that we had. It was a good one, it was enjoyable. I think it was respectful.
“Yeah, I think Turn 1, I didn’t do the correct thing.
“But I feel like what happened at the end of the race was more on my side.”
The twenty-four-year-old reiterated that despite the unfavourable outcomes of his battles with Verstappen, he had enjoyed them. He added that he believed that he had not emerged victorious as he had not done a “good enough” job.
“Otherwise, it was a good battle, and I enjoyed it.
“We just didn’t come out on top because I didn’t do a good enough job.”
However, he acknowledged that his chances at winning the title depended on his ability to beat Verstappen and stated that his failure to do so had resulted in “a non-successful weekend” despite his and McLaren’s efforts. He added that he and his team would have work to do ahead of the upcoming Mexican Grand Prix.
“But the one guy I need to beat is Max and that’s the guy I didn’t beat today.
“It was a non-successful weekend, all in all.
“But we gave it a good shot. I tried. It wasn’t good enough and we have work to do and I have work to do myself.”
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen had a different perspective on the race. During his track interview, Verstappen described his race as difficult, admitting that he had struggled with a lack of pace, understeering and braking.
“Yeah, for me, of course, it was quite a difficult race. I never really had the pace to attack. So, a bit different compared to yesterday. Yeah, just understeering a lot, struggling under braking.
“So that made the defending quite difficult because every time if someone wanted to go for a move, I couldn’t really brake that late.”
Though Verstappen stated that his podium finish was a great result given the circumstances, he admitted that the difficulties that he had experienced with the car had resulted in “a tough battle.”
“But yeah, it was a tough battle. I tried everything I could, of course, to keep him behind. And of course, at the end, to be on the podium is still, I think, for us, a great result.”
Verstappen, however, opted not to comment much on the Turn 12 incident with Norris into the final laps of the race, stating that while he had an opinion, he would leave the matter to the stewards. He added that, despite the incident, the team had learned a lot from the race and would focus on analysing the collected data.
“Yeah, you know, I have my opinion, but I don’t need to say it here. I let the Stewards do their thing, and for us, it was, again, a race that we learned a lot, and we’ll just analyse that.”
Verstappen further discussed his race during the Post-Race Press Conference, admitting that he had experienced a variety of challenges with his car that had made it obvious to him that victory would be out of his hands.
“I think today wasn’t the best race for us compared to yesterday, for example. Just struggling for balance, for grip. Couldn’t really brake, rotate the car. So yeah, quite quickly onwards, I realised that we’re not going to win the race.”
While he claimed that he and his team had tried to focus on their race and on the strategies that they could employ to maximise their performance, the race had ultimately become a matter of him “just surviving to the end.”
“But just tried to do my own race. I think we did the best strategy we could as a team. And then it was just surviving to the end.”
While the battle between him and Norris had posed a significant threat to his ability to finish the race on the podium, Verstappen stated that their battles had been “really good” and “a lot of fun” in what was, overall, a tough race for Red Bull and Verstappen.
“And then, of course, Lando arrived. We had some really good battles, honestly. It was really a lot of fun. But yeah, overall, it was still quite a tough race for me.”
When asked about their early-race battle into Turn 1 of Lap 1 which ultimately resulted in Norris dropping to fourth place, Verstappen said that he had seen “a gap on the inside” and had chosen to take the opportunity to get ahead. While he himself remained in second, though this time behind Ferrari’s Leclerc instead of Norris, he acknowledged that he had soon realised that Leclerc was faster and had tried to focus on his own race once Leclerc had pulled ahead.
“There was a gap on the inside, so I went for it.
“That corner is very wide, so it gives you a lot of opportunity of going very wide or try to go really tight. I chose for that option, and I still came out second!
“Started second, came out second out of Turn 1. This time, of course, it was Charles in front. I think it worked out quite well for me because Charles was anyway faster, so he just pulled away.
“From there, I just tried to do my own race.”
Verstappen was also asked about the battle between himself and Norris for third place in the latter stages of the race. When asked if he had been confident about his ability to keep his position, the Dutchman admitted that he had not been as he had lacked attacking ability. However, he stated that the track at the Circuit of the Americas was favourable to defending and he had exploited that aspect of it, despite the challenges with his car.
“I just tried to do the best I could, to be honest. My balance wasn’t great. I was just not really… I was not able to attack the corners. So, yeah, he was putting a lot of pressure. But around here, it’s quite a cool track to defend. There are a lot of possibilities. So, yeah, it makes it good for racing.”
When asked about the Turn 12 incident between himself and Norris, Verstappen stated that he believed that the matter was quite clear and cited his own experience around the Circuit of the Americas where he had lost a podium finish after a move similar to Norris’ against Kimi Räikkonen on the final lap seven years ago.
“Yeah, I think it’s quite clear: you can’t overtake outside of the white line. I mean, I got done for it also here in, I think, 2017 or whatever it was. So, I lost my podium like that.”
He explained that he had chosen to remain calm in the situation and had focused on finishing the race instead of attempting to regain his position on the track. Despite the situation, Verstappen reiterated that he had enjoyed the battle between himself and Norris.
“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 yeah, overall, I still really enjoyed that battle that we had.”
When asked if he sympathised with McLaren’s stance on the matter having been handled unfairly, due to Verstappen having also left the track during the incident with Norris, Verstappen stated that he did not as the rules were clear about the matter, reiterating that he had learned through his own experiences with penalties for similar situations.
“No, I don’t. I mean, they complain about a lot lately anyway, but it’s very clear in the rules. Outside the white line, you cannot pass. I’ve been done for it as well in the past.”
In addition to costing Norris a third-place finish in the United States Grand Prix race, the five-second penalty, also cost Norris a chance to further narrow his gap to Verstappen in the World Drivers’ Championship standing. Having finished third in Saturday’s sprint race and fourth in Sunday’s feature race, Norris will leave Texas with only 18 points – five less than Verstappen who, through his victory in the sprint race and third-place finish in the feature race scored 23 points this weekend. This widens the points gap between Verstappen and Norris in the championship to 57 points – five more than at the end of the Singapore Grand Prix.
Norris’ failure to outperform Verstappen is good news for the three-time world champion, whose chances of a fourth title improve every time Norris cannot outperform him. When asked how he felt about extending his championship lead, Verstappen confirmed that it was a positive, though he did admit that the team would need to analyse the reasons behind their struggles in the race.
“That is definitely the positive.
“I did hope for a little bit more performance today, so that’s what we have to analyse, why today we were just not that good.
“I think everyone was a little bit better or at least the same as yesterday, and it felt like we were definitely worse. So I need to understand why that was because I don’t know at the moment.”
