Austin (AFP) – McLaren team chief Andrea Stella blasted as “inappropriate” a controversial penalty handed to Lando Norris at the United States Grand Prix, which could shatter his world title dream. Race stewards penalised Norris and relegated him to fourth behind three-time world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull after the pair clashed and ran off-track in the closing laps. A five-second penalty given to Norris, who finished third on track at the flag, pushed him back to fourth behind the series leader and dealt a blow in his bid to catch and pass the Dutch driver in this year’s title race.
Norris was adjudged to have gained an advantage by running off the track when he swept outside Verstappen on lap 53 of the 56-lap race. The incident cost Norris valuable points and helped lift Verstappen to a 57-point lead in the title race with 354 to Norris’s 297 with five races left. “My view is that the way the stewards interfered with a beautiful piece of motorsport was inappropriate because both cars went off track so both cars gained an advantage,” said McLaren team chief Andrea Stella. “It’s a shame because it cost us a podium, it cost us a race where we stayed patient after we were pushed off in the first lap, at the first corner. We accepted it.”
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“Having said very clearly our position, this kind of position by the stewards, this kind of decision cannot be appealed. For us, the chapter is now closed and we move on to the next race. But both cars went off track so for us there was no doubt that the manoeuvre was correct.” Norris was philosophical about his plight after a feisty drive, having recovered from a poor first lap when he wasted his fourth pole in five races and fell to fourth. “Not my best race,” he said. “With the loss in turn one and just the racing at the end, it clearly wasn’t enough — so that’s life. I didn’t do a good enough job, but I gave it a good shot so I’m doing my best. My best isn’t good enough sometimes. It just wasn’t our day today.”
He added that he was considering talking to the stewards about their decision but felt “there’s plenty of scenarios where people wouldn’t get a penalty in cases like what happened.” He said it was difficult to know if he should have given his place back immediately during the race. “It’s tough to know, but maybe that was my one opportunity that I had. Max was defending well and it wasn’t easy to overtake.” Verstappen said he had endured a difficult race without the pace in his car to attack. “It was tough, a tough battle and I tried everything to keep him behind me. But it was fun, too,” he said.
The race was won by Charles Leclerc, who led home Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari one-two. Leclerc’s win lifted him to 275 points in third place in the championship. “We did a great job and the pace of the car was really good and that’s thanks to the engineers and the team,” said Leclerc. “They’ve worked like crazy for the upgrades and it is paying off now. We could not have dreamed for anything better. It all worked and we are very happy. Now we are targeting the constructors title.”
It was Leclerc’s first win in America, his third this year, and the eighth of his career as Ferrari revelled in their first US Grand Prix one-two since 2006. Ferrari’s success at the Circuit of the Americas lifted them to 496 points in the teams’ title race behind McLaren on 544 and Red Bull on 504, with the Mexican and Brazilian Grands Prix to come on the next two successive weekends.
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