Lando Norris says Max Verstappen’s driving is ‘incorrect’ as title rival claims he ‘just follows the rules’
Max Verstappen insisted that he is just following F1’s rules after Lando Norris accused his title rival of “incorrect” driving following their contentious incident during last weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
Norris overtook Verstappen for third in the latter stages of the race but was then given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while making the pass, so dropped to fourth behind the Drivers’ Championship leader, and is now 57 points adrift with five rounds remaining.
The decision proved highly contentious, with McLaren arguing that Norris was left with no option but to go off track as Red Bull’s Verstappen broke late and also ran wide and off track at Turn 12.
With F1’s Americas triple-header continuing with weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, Norris and Verstappen reflected on the incident during the event’s media day before McLaren stunned the paddock by launching a bid to overturn the penalty on Thursday evening.
McLaren’s petition for a right of review hearing, at which they are required to produce “significant and relevant” new evidence that was unavailable at the time of the decision, will take place at 9.30pm UK time (2.30pm Mexico City time) on Friday.
“It’s how the rules are written. I don’t make the rules, first of all. I just follow the rules, as much as I can,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.
“Of course, sometimes you get caught out with it. We’ve had that in the past. I just implement the rules and play with them.”
In explaining that decision, the stewards’ official verdict made reference to the ‘Driving Standards Guidelines’ – a document outlining the latest rules of engagement in wheel-to-wheel combat, which has had input from F1 drivers and been updated for this year, ahead of a planned formal insertion into the FIA’s International Sporting Code that governs all motorsport in 2025.
The stewards pointed out that Norris was not ahead or level at the apex of Turn 12, therefore gained a “lasting advantage” when the McLaren driver overtook Verstappen.
“We’ll ask questions. We’ve already asked certain questions. It’s not something that needs to be done publicly or anything,” Norris told Sky Sports F1 when asked about whether the rules need to be clarified when two cars go off track.
“But we can just have conversations on why I got the penalty, because I don’t believe it was correct. I think the majority of people don’t agree it was correct, but that’s life and sometimes it doesn’t go your way.
“I think things just need to be clear for the future on what’s allowed and what’s not. I think the fact of getting off your brakes to achieve just the ruling of being ahead at apex no matter how wide you run on the exit, is incorrect and I don’t think that’s how racing should be.
“Of course, that’s the ruling at the minute and that’s just what you’ve got to deal with. So, I think there needs to be some tweaks.”
Former world champion and Sky Sports F1 pundit Jenson Button questioned the regulations, while Martin Brundle called for rule changes in his latest column.
Verstappen, who is looking for a fourth consecutive world title, thinks the rules are very clear regarding overtaking.
“At the end of the day, you cannot overtake outside of the white line. That’s a very clear rule, and I’ve been done by it myself,” he said.
“So, I don’t understand why then suddenly now we need to ask and scream for changes in the regulations when it’s been like that forever.
“I mean, I grew up, go-karting, F3, F1 – you know that you cannot pass outside of the white line, it’s as simple as that.”
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