On-track controversies in Formula 1 don’t get much bigger than the two championship protagonists coming to blows over the lead of a race.
That’s exactly what happened yesterday as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collided at turn three while the McLaren driver was trying to wrest the lead away from his rival.
But that moment had been building up for several laps. Norris was fuming in his cockpit that nothing was being done about Verstappen’s defensive tactics, which he felt violated the rules.
In response, Verstappen accused his rival of making unrealistic “dive bomb” attempts to overtake him.
Were the stewards right to intervene when they did? Should action have been taken sooner – or was no intervention needed at all?
The incidents
Lap 55: Norris backs out as Verstappen reacts
Norris made his first attempt to pass Verstappen with 16 laps to go. The McLaren driver moved off-line as they approached turn three. Verstappen, already slowing for the corner, jinked right off the racing line to cover off the move and Norris backed off. He pointed out on his radio that Verstappen had changed his line in the braking zone.
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| Lap: 53/71 VER: 1’08.772, NOR: 1’08.016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Okay, that’s 19 laps remaining. 19 laps. | Joseph | Lando, second strike, turn three. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | So Lando 1.1. | Joseph | Right, he’s 1.2. Let’s use… | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | And that’s Tsunoda ahead blue flags. | Norris | Interrupting Yeah, I see that… |
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| Joseph | RBB, RBB. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 54/71 VER: 1’08.789, NOR: 1’08.429 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | Lando has DRS behind. And gap 0.8. | Joseph | ACS button press. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Joseph | Suggest strat 13, strat 13. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lap: 55/71 VER: 1’09.213, NOR: 1’09.348 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lambiase | So Lando on DRS he’s 0.7. Norris closes on Verstappen at turn three. The Red Bull driver reacts by moving to cover the inside line |
Norris | Norris closes on Verstappen at turn three. The Red Bull driver reacts by moving to cover the inside line Yeah. He reacted to my move. You’re not allowed to do that. |
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| Joseph | Okay, we’re on it. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Norris | He saw me move. Then he moved. That’s not allowed. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Joseph | We’ve reported that to the race director. He saw you move and then moved. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lap 59: Norris goes off passing Verstappen
Four laps later Norris tried a similar move but this time committed to it. He ran wide at the exit of the corner, while Verstappen remained on the track. Although Norris left the corner ahead he returned the position to…
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