McLaren boss Andrea Stella stated that the team was not impressed with the stewards’ decision to hand Lando Norris a five-second penalty for the late-race incident involving the British driver and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Two contentious incidents between Verstappen and Norris have become major talking points following the eventful United States Grand Prix, as the drivers clashed once again.
A Turn 1 tussle between polesitter Norris and a chasing Verstappen on the first lap left the door open for eventual winner Charles Leclerc to slip through and start building a lead at the front. Norris was momentarily forced wide as Verstappen barged through with a decisive manoeuvre. Although Norris was unhappy with the move, no action was taken.
The two later came to blows in the closing stages of the race, with Norris pursuing Verstappen in the battle for third. Norris overtook the Red Bull driver at Turn 12 with four laps to go, but both drivers went off the track in the process, prompting a heated discussion via team radio about the legality of the move.
McLaren insisted they were in the right, arguing that Norris was ahead of Verstappen at the apex of the corner. The stewards investigated the incident, ultimately penalising Norris for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage—a punishment that could have been avoided if Norris had quickly given the position back and perhaps attempted to re-pass Verstappen later.
Informed of the five-second penalty over the radio at the end of the race, Norris bitterly remarked, “well then, I should’ve just got back behind him, shouldn’t I?”
The penalty meant Norris finished off the podium, in fourth place, behind Verstappen but ahead of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.
Stella explained McLaren’s reasoning in a post-race media session, saying, “I think the ‘ahead at the apex’ in relation to the interpretation of the overtaking manoeuvre is not the relevant bit.
“The defending car goes just straight at the apex. We checked the video multiple times. It’s just going straight. It’s going off track, as much as Lando is doing, giving no chance for Lando to complete the manoeuvre.
He quipped: “If I were a journalist, I would have done a bit of statistics: how many times has Max used this way for defending, [where] both cars go off track.
“(…) It’s just the fact that you defend by going off track. This cannot be permissible.
“I think both cars are gaining an advantage, if there’s an advantage gained. So for us, this manoeuvre was at the least neutral.”
Stella admitted that when the stewards opened an investigation into the incident, he believed it would be Verstappen getting hit with a penalty, not Norris.
“When I saw it was under investigation, I was pretty sure that was because Max pushed Lando off the track,” he said.
“In fact, we immediately told Oscar, ‘Make sure you close five seconds on Max because there could be a position at stake’. So, the interpretation of this situation between McLaren and the stewards is polar opposite.”
The McLaren team principal voiced his surprise at the rapid issuance of the verdict, as well as the stewards’ decision not to summon the drivers involved before applying the penalty.
“I am surprised that the stewards didn’t even feel the need to discuss with the drivers after the race,” Stella said.
“It is an uncertain situation—get the opinion of the drivers, get the time to assess the situation with the level of detail that is required when the situation is not so clear.
“Where is the urgency to interfere with the result of a race with a championship cause, just because you have to make the decision in 60 seconds?
“It’s a question mark that I think the stewards should take constructively, positively. Is it really needed to make a decision so quickly, and in our opinion, so wrongly?”
He added: “We were a little upset by the manoeuvre in corner one, because not only Max gained the position, but it cost the complete exit for Lando, and therefore losing the positions on both Ferraris. At the same time, we sort of understood that the stewards might have applied the first-lap mitigating circumstances, and we accepted it.
“Because we always have respect for the difficulties that the stewards operate under. But they should have respect for their job as well. And when the case is so difficult, like [with] Lando and Max, just take the time, review it after the race. Hear from the drivers. Try to understand the subtleties.
“So I think the first lap, the first corner, can be mitigated by the first-lap interpretation, but I think this one, for me, is really difficult to understand. More than the one in the first lap.”
Despite McLaren’s frustration, Stella maintained that the matter is now “closed” for the team, as the penalty “cannot be appealed.”
“The decision cannot be appealed. So for us, the matter is closed. Myself, the drivers, the team,” he stated.
“Now we close this chapter. We hope that the FIA and the stewards will review the case, so that in the future we will have a better policy, a better stewardship of the racing. We now focus on the next race.”
Stella continued: “I don’t think new and relevant evidence exists, because the only evidence that we have used so far to assess our interpretation, which is in disagreement with the stewards, is what is already available. So if you open up the right of review, I don’t think it will ever be successful, because you don’t need new evidence, it’s just a matter of interpretation.”
