After collecting a track limits penalty and driving into the pits with damage, Lando Norris’ was fortunate to avoid a grid drop for his home race.
Even amid the drama which ensued after the pair tangled on lap 64, McLaren ensured they served a penalty he received mere moments earlier, to avoid it being carried over to the next race.
It would have been easy for McLaren to overlook this penalty. The decision appeared on their timing screens 21 seconds after the Red Bull and McLaren made contact at turn three.
McLaren would have expected the decision after they saw Norris’ fourth infringement five minutes earlier, but it wasn’t confirmed until the message flashed up on their timing screens at this point.
Meanwhile Norris was limping back to the pits with a right-rear puncture. The urge to repair his car and get him back out onto the track was no doubt top of their minds, yet despite having only around a minute’s notice in a high-stress situation, McLaren did not miss the opportunity to serve his five-second time penalty.
The situation played out so rapidly McLaren hadn’t even told Norris about his five-second time penalty when he arrived in the pits. His crew held back for the required five seconds before touching his car.
As it turned out, McLaren did not actually need to do this. Norris’ 64th and final lap of his race was also the one which tipped him over 90% of the total distance, and he was therefore classified as a finisher.
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This meant the five-second penalty could be added to his total race time. However had this whole scenario played out any earlier (and there had been several near-misses between the two drivers already) McLaren’s quick thinking would have been crucial – though they would have had to send Norris back out to cover another lap, as Red Bull did with Perez in similar circumstances at Suzuka last year.
This was one of two moments in which Norris was fortunate to avoid a penalty for the forthcoming race. The second owed more to fortune than any intervention by his team, and under the circumstances could just as easily have affected Verstappen.
At the Canadian Grand Prix three weeks ago Sergio Perez was given a three-place grid drop for the following race by driving back to the pits with his car in an unsafe condition. He had backed his RB20 into a wall and its rear wing was hanging off. He was…
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