McLaren’s Lando Norris voiced his displeasure with “inconsistent” and “rushed” decision-making by the Formula 1 stewards which cost him third place in the United States Grand Prix.
Fighting to poach third from Max Verstappen in the closing laps at the Circuit of the Americas, Norris and the Red Bull driver went wheel to wheel at the apex of Turn 12.
Norris, on the outside, was run to the ragged edge and beyond by Verstappen, who dove inside in the Lap 52 scrap, forcing the McLaren driver to complete his manoeuvre off the circuit.
McLaren told Norris over the team radio that he was ahead at the apex, but the FIA race stewards disagreed, demoting him to fourth with a five-second penalty.
“No, [I don’t understand it], not really,” Norris told select media including Motorsport Week post-race.
“It’s a tough job to steward these kinds of things.
“For me, whatever I did, I did. The point that is incorrect is what Max did, which is defend his position by going off the track, and would effectively be keeping his position, which is not correct.
“He went off the track by defending, and has overdefended and made a mistake, and therefore has gained from that.
“At the same time, because of that, I’ve had to go off the track.”
Norris argued that “It’s impossible for people to know” if he could have made the move on track or not, “you can’t steward that kind of thing,” he said.
“But those are the rules.”
Still, Norris argued that inconsistency was at play, citing Verstappen passing him off of the road in the Austrian GP, but going unpunished.
Moreover, he said, “for me, it’s just a rushed decision. They don’t hear or understand our points, which they should do after the race.”
Rather than hear him and McLaren out, Norris said that the stewards wanted “to make a decision at the time, so you don’t alter points and podiums and things like that.
“Therefore it’s a rushed decision, and they don’t hear my point of discussion or my team’s point or Max’s point, which I don’t think is maybe the most correct thing.
“Today it was a penalty. Not a lot I can do apart from just accept that.
“I tried, we both tried, it was a great battle, I really enjoyed it, it was tough. Max drove very well and defended very well. But he ended up on top, so congrats to him.”
Asked whether he would like to appeal the stewards’ decision, Norris said “I don’t think you can – which is again a silly thing, because they’re just guessing.
“I don’t think that’s how stewarding should be done. It’s a difficult job for them to do. So I’m not complaining against them. It’s more the fact they don’t see everything, understand everything as well as we do when we’re inside the car. That’s it.”
The run down to Norris’ battle with Verstappen came thanks to his positive tyre offset to the Dutchman, giving him the opportunity to chase the Red Bull driver as the race came to a close.
That came about thanks to a Lap 1, turn 1 incident where Verstappen and Norris went wheel to wheel, with both cars running off track there as well.
“The thing is with Max, you’ve got to commit,” Norris said.
“People don’t understand that kind of thing. With Max, you can’t just go half-hearted.”
Penalties aside, one place and three points conceded to Verstappen puts Norris 57 points behind his rival in the Drivers’ standings with five rounds to go.
READ MORE: Charles Leclerc heads Ferrari 1-2 at F1 US GP, Lando Norris loses podium
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