The United States Grand Prix sparked discussions on many fronts, with much of the attention focused on the incident involving the two main contenders for the world title, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. On lap 52, in an attempt to overtake his title rival, the McLaren driver went off track, completing the pass beyond the white line, which led to a five-second penalty for violating the regulations.
In this specific case, the stewards determined that since Lando Norris wasn’t ahead at the apex of the corner during the battle with Max Verstappen, he didn’t have the right to stay in front, and when he re-entered the track ahead of the three-time world champion, he had gained what the stewards defined as a lasting advantage.
The penalty surprised McLaren, who initially expected Max Verstappen to be penalized. They then had to react quickly when Lando Norris was penalized, instructing Oscar Piastri to slow down to avoid falling within the five-second penalty window. However, there’s a secondary issue related to this incident that could have had an impact on the championship: initially, with that off-track excursion, the FIA had given Lando Norris a warning for track limits, which resulted in the black-and-white flag for reaching the maximum allowed off-track incidents under the regulations.
Upon reviewing all the deleted lap times for track limits by the FIA, it turns out that the British McLaren driver should have been penalized, having exceeded the track limits on four occasions, while the regulations only allow three before a penalty is issued. In this case, however, the FIA clarified that the off-track moment related to the Max Verstappen incident toward the end of the race wasn’t counted as a track limit violation, which is why Lando Norris stayed within the three exceptions allowed by the rules.
“Car 4 [Norris] was overtaking Car 1 on the outside but was not level with Car 1 at the apex. Therefore, according to the guidelines, Car 4 had lost the ‘right’ to be ahead in the corner,” reads the FIA statement, which also explains why a five-second penalty was issued instead of ten.
“Consequently, as Car 4 went off the track and returned ahead of Car 1, this is considered an instance of going off the track and gaining a lasting advantage. A five-second penalty is imposed instead of the recommended ten seconds because, having overtaken on the outside, the driver of Car 4 had few alternatives other than to go off the track due to the proximity of Car 1, which also went off the track,” added the stewards, who cited the lack of alternatives as the main reason for not counting the track limit violation. “In light of the above, we determine that this will not be considered as a ‘strike’ for track limits for Norris.”
This is a particularly interesting decision, especially as it confirms that the FIA has begun reassessing how off-track incidents during duels are considered, no longer applying a hard and fast rule in absolute terms.
Leave a Reply