Sparks between the title contenders
Behind the fantastic Ferrari one-two at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, with the memorable result secured by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, the Austin race featured yet another direct showdown between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. Once again, the duel between the two Formula 1 title contenders was full of controversies, and once again, the outcome favored the reigning world champion. The five-second penalty given to Lando Norris for overtaking off-track against Red Bull’s #1 cost the Briton the third spot on the podium.
Regardless of individual opinions on the fairness of the penalty given to Bristol’s #4, there is one question many fans are asking: why didn’t Norris immediately give up the position to Max Verstappen, thereby avoiding the risk of a penalty, considering that he still had four laps to try and reclaim third place on track, and his McLaren seemed much faster and more competitive than the RB20 at that moment?
Stella’s analysis: Max Verstappen should have been penalized
The explanation came from McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, who also took full responsibility for not instructing Lando Norris to let his rival pass. According to the former Ferrari engineer—and the entire Woking pit wall—it was inconceivable that the stewards would decide to penalize the papaya team driver.
“Why didn’t Lando give the position back? Because at the pit wall, under my responsibility—but with full agreement from all the people involved in this interpretation—we believed this situation did not need to be investigated,” Andrea Stella commented in an interview with journalists in Austin. “If anything, we thought the investigation should be into Max, who had pushed Lando off track. That’s what we expected to happen when we saw that the case was under review. So for us, there was no need to give back the position because of this situation,” the McLaren team principal concluded at the end of the United States Grand Prix.
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