Max Verstappen said he had no sympathy for Lando Norris’ frustration over his penalty in yesterday’s United States Grand Prix.
Norris was given a five-second penalty for overtaking Verstappen off the track at turn 12 on lap 52. The McLaren driver nosed ahead of his rival on the outside as the approached the corner, but both drivers went off at the exit of the corner.
The stewards ruled that although Norris “had little alternative other than to leave the track because of the proximity of [Verstappen’s car] which had also left the track,” he was not entitled to take the position off his rival.
Asked whether he sympathised with Norris’ situation, Verstappen said: “No, I don’t.”
“I mean, they complain about a lot lately anyway, but it’s very clear in the rules,” he continued. “Outside the white line, you cannot pass. I’ve been done for it as well in the past.”
McLaren raised concerns earlier this weekend over the existence of a front bib adjustment device on their rival’s RB20 which could have allowed them to alter the its front ride height in parc ferme. Red Bull insist they have never done this.
Verstappen insisted there was no doubt Norris’ move was illegal. “I think it’s quite clear, you can’t overtake outside of the white line,” he said.
“I got done for it also here in, I think, 2017 or whatever it was. So I lost my podium like that. 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 overall I still really enjoyed that battle that we had.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella strongly criticised Norris’ penalty. “It’s a shame that Lando’s race was affected initially by Max pushing him off in turn one and then, once the hard job of recovering the position on Max was done, thanks to good pace and strategy, he lost the podium because of a penalty we don’t understand nor agree with. We feel this was an inappropriate way to change the result of a race.”
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2024 United States Grand Prix
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