Norris clash shows stewards were too soft on Verstappen-Hamilton incidents

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Lando Norris’ race ending clash with Max Verstappen was a result of the world champion not receiving harsh enough punishments for past incidents with Lewis Hamilton.

Norris was forced out of the race with a damaged car when he and Verstappen collided twice at turn three on lap 64.

Both suffered damage and punctured tyres in the clash and were forced to pit. Verstappen was able to continue and finish fifth, but Norris was unable to continue with the damage sustained. The stewards ruled Verstappen “predominately” to blame for the clash and handed him a 10-second time penalty.

Red Bull focused blame on Norris for the collision after the race, team principal Christian Horner claiming Norris “didn’t behave correctly”. Stella defended his driver and claimed Verstappen’s track record made it clear who was responsible.

“I see that the entire population of the world would know who is responsible, except for a group of people,” Stella told Sky.

“But the problem behind it is that if you don’t address these things honestly, they will come back. They have come back today because they were not addressed properly in the past, when there was some fights with Lewis that needed to be punished in a harsher way. Like this, you learn how to race in a certain way, which we can consider fair and square.”

Verstappen was involved in a series of incidents with Hamilton when the pair fought for the world championship in 2021. He was penalised for collisions between them at Monza and Jeddah that year, while another incident at Interlagos attracted no penalty, and Hamilton was held responsible for a tangle at Silverstone.

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Asked what example he was referring to, Stella replied: “There’s many episodes.”

“The fact is that we have so much respect for Red Bull, so much respect for Max – they don’t need to do this,” Stella continued “They don’t need to do this. This is a way to almost compromise your reputation. Why would you do that?”

After the race Norris said Verstappen had moved under braking more than once without attracting the attention of the stewards until their race-ending collision. Stella said all racing must adhere to the regulations and rules of engagement as understood by drivers and the stewards.

“I think the stewards found that Max was fully [sic] to blame in this episode,” Stella said “So it’s not about racing in a…