Martin Brundle on United States GP: Lando Norris’ battle with Max Verstappen and subsequent penalty analysed

I must start this column by congratulating Charles Leclerc on a tremendous victory in Austin, and Ferrari for a dominant one-two finish.

In all the noise from the aggressive and controversial championship battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, they were to an extent ignored during the race.

Leclerc won Monza and since then perhaps should have won Baku, underperformed his and the car’s potential in Singapore, but has been very strong of late.

As they head to Mexico, just 48 points cover McLaren, Red Bull, and Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship and that’s going to be exciting and tense in the closing stages, given both cars can score points in each team.

Verstappen won the Sprint from pole position on Saturday in fine style, his first victory since June, but the Ferrari was clearly quite light on its tyres which indicated a strong race car for Sunday, and so it transpired.

Sprint format delivers again

The Sprint generated some feisty and exciting racing throughout the field for the duration, once again underlining that it’ll always be preferable to a third practice session at a regular GP.

Sprint weekends are very full on, with four of the five sessions having a definitive result, be it the two qualifying segments or the two races. It definitely challenges the teams with only one practice session to get a decent all-round setup, especially on a track that had been largely resurfaced beforehand. There remained plenty of bumps but it was smoother and more grippy than last year in key areas.

One criticism of the Sprint is that it simply telegraphs what’s going to happen the following day in the main race, but this is not particularly the case, especially with this year’s change to the format that allows the cars out of parc ferme on Saturday between the Sprint and GP qualifying.

The Sprint in Austin is over 19 laps compared to the race distance of 56 laps, and therefore much less fuel is carried at the start. There’s much less consideration about tyre management and none about stopping for fresh tyres.

The Sprint is all about going as fast as possible and managing what you have until the chequered flag, hence the name. That is why we had a different winner and podium combination each day, with Leclerc only fourth on Saturday.

Norris makes inexplicable start after stunning pole lap

Norris delivered a stunning lap for pole position in qualifying for the main Grand Prix at the same time as Verstappen lost a little time in turn 19. On the second and final run in Q3 Norris looked like he’d struggle to beat his first effort, but Verstappen appeared on target to improve. It all became incidental as George Russell pushed his luck on the entry kerb into turn 19 and slammed the barriers bringing the session to an end. His car would need serious repairs and loss of some upgraded parts, confining him to a pit lane start.

At the start of the Grand Prix everyone got away in unison and Norris knew he had to defend the inside line into the first corner. It had worked well for him on this line the day before. Inexplicably he still left reasonable space on the inside and Verstappen wasted no time in filling it.

They both inevitably ran quite wide on the exit, Norris now off the track. The race director and stewards take a more lenient view on the opening lap as the cars are bound to be in multiple close contact throughout, and the incident wasn’t even raised for the stewards to debate.

Meanwhile the way opened up beautifully for Charles Leclerc to seize a lead he would not relinquish while Verstappen and Norris sorted themselves out. Third-place starter Carlos Sainz was more hindered by the squabble ahead and had to continue in third at this point.

Lewis Hamilton, who’d suffered a miserable qualifying, immediately moved from 17th to 12th but that wouldn’t last long before he spun out in the same place as his team-mate Russell had the day before at turn 19. He didn’t hit the wall but the car was beached in the gravel and a safety car was deployed for the first time in ten races.

It was a rare mistake from Lewis but from onboard cameras, it appeared there was absolutely nothing he could do in order to stop the rear of the car from sliding away. He would be the only race retirement.

Textbook attack vs defence from Norris and Verstappen

It was way too early to grab a cheap pit stop under the safety car and when the race got under way once more it quite quickly became an apparent three-horse race between Verstappen and the two Ferraris. McLaren lacked race pace and slipped – 16 and 18 seconds behind for Norris and Oscar Piastri.

A few laps behind the safety car saved tyres and extended the first stints such that one-stopping became much more likely. Ferrari would pit Sainz on lap 21 for fresh hard tyres and eventually this meant he would undercut and pass Verstappen.

Red Bull pitted Max on lap 25 and Ferrari responded with leader Leclerc on lap 26. At this point the McLarens started to fly along nicely, having apparently worked through some graining on their starting tyres. They extended their first stint to laps 31 for Norris and 32 for Piastri as they were largely matching the front-runners’ pace despite not having pitted. This brought McLaren back into play for a podium shot, although realistically not for victory.

With six lap younger tyres Norris set off after Verstappen in an attempt to close the 6.4-second gap, which he relentlessly did, and appeared on the Red Bull gearbox as soon as he could get his rear wing open in the two DRS zones.

And so started a string of laps which was textbook attack by Norris, and defending by Verstappen, particularly with regard to car placement. It was all fair enough, but on lap 52 Norris was closer than ever exiting the turn 11 hairpin and a pass seemed inevitable. Verstappen moved to the left on the back straight, and with a bit of jiggling of the wheel at top speed, which did not constitute a double move, he coaxed Norris to the right-hand side as he moved largely past.

This would put Norris on the outside for the next left-hander at turn 12. Verstappen braked later and sailed back up the inside to attempt to reclaim the position. And this is where it all gets terribly messy and potentially confusing.

As they exited the corner Verstappen ran marginally outside of track limits, with Norris much wider. Lando floored the throttle and steamed through the run-off area to take third place, much to Max’s inevitable chagrin.

Why officiating the Norris-Verstappen incident was so messy

There are track limit infringement sporting regulations to define the field of play, and there are ‘F1 Driving Standards Guidelines’.

As far as I’m concerned, the six-page Guidelines (therefore not regulations), which have been signed off by the FIA, the drivers’ association (GPDA), and the teams, are a blueprint to dissuade overtaking, especially around the outside. There are key reference points that are hard to define for both drivers and stewards, such as where exactly is the apex of any given corner across the entire width of the track, along with specific front axle and car mirror positions in a fast-moving event such as a racing overtake.

Moreover, a driver can game the system by, for example, accelerating and running wide, thereby ensuring the overtaking driver on the inside is penalised for not allowing them a ‘fair and acceptable width’ from the apex to the exit of the corner.

I don’t know what happened to the ‘let them race’ approach from a while back which worked reasonably well. As far as I’m concerned, if you pass a car on the inside of a corner, while remaining under control and not locked up, and keeping within the track confines, then you have won the corner and can take the normal racing line through the exit, and it’s up to the driver who has been passed to yield, not to hit the throttle and inevitably run wide. George Russell took an unreasonable penalty for this in Austin because the guidelines had to be applied. As have others.

If Russell was penalised for running Valtteri Bottas wide, shouldn’t Verstappen have been penalised for running Norris wide at the same corner? And here’s another question, given Norris had passed Verstappen down the outside before turn 12, when Verstappen sailed back up the inside, who was actually doing the overtaking at the corner apex, Verstappen or Norris?

It’s even more complicated than that. Norris running wide was his fourth track limit indiscretion which means an automatic five-second penalty. It seems inconceivable to me that if a driver is forced wide that counts as a track limit strike, but I’m assured it does. But Norris wasn’t given an extra five-second track limits penalty because that would have been considered double jeopardy with his penalty for overtaking off-track, which he undoubtedly did. That wasn’t a universally agreed decision in race control.

The standard penalty for passing off track is 10 seconds but mitigating circumstances can be applied. Like most refereeing decisions there are so many variables here and room for human opinion and interpretation, along with applying precedent and consistency. Every incident will be subtly different.

And there’s yet more. The stewards are under pressure to make speedy decisions so that penalties can be applied, positions quickly handed back, and teams and drivers know where they stand, not to mention fans and broadcasters, especially if a pit stop is imminent where a penalty needs to be applied.

Furthermore, where podium positions are concerned, especially close to the end of the race, there’s even more pressure to make a fast call as it’s not desirable to have drivers removed from the podium post-race as we’ve witnessed in Austin and Mexico before. Or indeed changing the result long after the fans have left the venue or switched off their devices.

Perhaps that’s a price worth paying if the drivers and teams are allowed to make their considered cases post-race, and the stewards can have more time to think and reflect before making a decision.

We witnessed back at the Austrian GP where a simple channel of gravel and other circuit furniture can dissuade driving off the defined racetrack, without having high kerbs which can dangerously launch cars into the air. It costs money to replace and return this for motorcycle racing where it simply doesn’t work, but in the grand scale of F1 things that’s not expensive.

The circuit layouts and run-offs create the problems, and the ever more complex driving rules fail to manage all of the inevitable and varied issues. Don’t simply blame the referees, that’s not fair and won’t solve the problem. The driving guidelines need a serious tweak, and much simplification.

Lawson shines on return, Colapinto impresses again

Elsewhere two young drivers shone. Liam Lawson drove a fine race on his return to rise from the back of the grid in his RB to ninth, exactly what he needed to show to Red Bull after replacing Daniel Ricciardo.

Franco Colapinto went well again for Williams to claim a point in 10th spot, and he’s certainly putting his much more experienced team-mate Alex Albon under pressure.

George Russell did his best in his Mercedes from the pit lane to pass Perez in the late stages and claim sixth spot. And well done again to Haas for further points with Nico Hulkenberg to cement their sixth place in the Constructors’ Championship, for now.

And so, Verstappen beat Norris in both races and extended his championship lead to 57 points, which makes it a pivotal weekend with five GPs and two Sprints remaining, with a maximum 146 points on the table. Verstappen once again showed that he is more of a street fighter and more cunning than Norris when the chips are down.

Formula 1’s Americas triple header continues next 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