McLaren fail in bid to overturn Norris’ US GP penalty

McLaren’s bid to overturn Lando Norris’ United States Grand Prix penalty has been denied after Austin stewards turned down the team’s right of review request.

US GP stewards met with representatives from McLaren, Red Bull and the FIA in a video conference between Friday’s two Mexico City Grand Prix practice sessions after the former had lodged a challenge against the decision to hand Norris a five-second time penalty for his overtake on title rival Max Verstappen last Sunday.

In order for the case to be fully re-opened, McLaren had to present what stewards agreed was a “significant and relevant new element” of evidence which had been unavailable to officials at the time of the initial decision.

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McLaren’s bid to overturn Lando Norris’ US GP penalty was denied on a dramatic Friday in Mexico

McLaren argued that Verstappen was the car making the overtake, rather than Norris, which they felt the stewards got wrong when explaining their original decision.

However, the stewards ultimately ruled five hours after the hearing ended that McLaren’s new reasoning was “not sustainable and is therefore rejected”, so did not trigger a second part of the hearing.

While McLaren “acknowledge” the outcome, they appear to disagree with the reasoning.

McLaren team statement after right of review rejection

“We acknowledge the Stewards’ decision to reject our petition requesting a Right of Review.

“We disagree with the interpretation that an FIA document, which makes a competitor aware of an objective, measurable and provable error in the decision made by the stewards, cannot be an admissible “element” which meets all four criteria set by the ISC, as specified in Article 14.3.

“We would like to thank the FIA and the stewards for having considered this case in a timely manner.

“We will continue to work closely with the FIA to further understand how teams can constructively challenge decisions that lead to an incorrect classification of the race.”

It means the results of last Sunday’s race at the Circuit of the Americas stand, with Verstappen’s third and Norris’ fourth places meaning the Dutchman still leads his British rival by 57 points heading into this weekend’s race in Mexico.

McLaren remain 40 points ahead of Red Bull and 48 points in front of Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship with five rounds remaining.

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Listen to the heated radio messages exchanged during the US Grand Prix following Lando Norris’s controversial overtake of Max Verstappen

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Jenson Button and Anthony Davidson debate whether Lando Norris was fairly given a five-second penalty after going off track in a battle with Max Verstappen

What happened in the hearing?

Team principal Andrea Stella and racing director Randeep Singh attended the hearing on behalf of McLaren, with sporting director Jonathan Wheatley and senior race engineer Stephen Knowles on behalf of Red Bull.

McLaren needed to meet four requirements – that their evidence was significant, relevant, new and unavailable to them at the time of the decision.

What did McLaren argue to meet the four points?

  • The document for the decision contained a statement that was incorrect and that evidenced an objective, measurable and provable error had been made by the stewards
  • That the statement was that “Car 4 (Norris) was overtaking Car 1 (Verstappen) on the outside but was not level with Car 1 (Verstappen) at the apex”
  • That the above statement was in error because McLaren had evidence that Car 4 (Norris) had already overtaken and was ahead of Car 1 (Verstappen) “at the braking zone”
  • That this error is significant and relevant, is new and was unavailable to McLaren at the time of the decision

Stella argued that McLaren had a “legally sophisticated explanation” and that their evidence was a “substantive case especially compared to previous right of review cases”.

The McLaren boss initially said after the United States Grand Prix that the team would not appeal the penalty, but his view become “much more profound” after seeing the new evidence. The stewards did not take into account these comments.

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McLaren chief executive officer Zak Brown doesn’t believe Lando Norris should have been penalised for his overtake on title rival Max Verstappen at the United States Grand Prix in the previous race

McLaren and Red Bull both agreed that a “very high bar” is set for a successful petitioning of a right of review, with the Constructors’ Championship leaders feeling they met that bar.

McLaren’s Singh stated he felt there needed to be another way to correct decisions taken in a race.

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner reflects on the incident which saw Lando Norris receive a five-second penalty in Austin after overtaking Max Verstappen

The hearing lasted 25 minutes and the stewards decided the “relevance” of McLaren’s new evidence, that Verstappen was the overtaking car in the move, was “unsustainable”, so led to the rejection.

The stewards noted that McLaren lodged the petition in good faith.

Sky Sports F1’s live Mexico City GP schedule

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Look back at some of the most dramatic moments to have taken place at the Mexico City Grand Prix

Saturday October 26
6.15pm: Mexico City GP Practice Three (session starts at 6.30pm)
9pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying build-up*
10pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying*

Sunday October 27
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Mexico City GP build-up*
8pm: THE MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX*
10pm: Chequered Flag: Mexico City GP reaction

*also live on Sky Sports Main Event (Race build-up on Sunday from 7.30pm)

Formula 1’s Americas triple header continues this weekend with the Mexico City Grand Prix, with every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime

Source : Sky Sports

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