Lando Norris coming out on top in a wheel-to-wheel battle with title rival Max Verstappen at the Mexico Grand Prix was vindication of his “fair” driving, according to McLaren team principal Andrea Stella.
Norris finished second behind Carlos Sainz to take 10 points out of Verstappen’s lead and will head to Brazil next weekend trailing the three-time world champion by 47 points with four races remaining and 120 points still up for grabs.
A week on from Norris being demoted behind Verstappen at the United States Grand Prix for overtaking his rival off the track – a penalty McLaren contested – the championship protagonists locked horns again in Mexico City.
This time it was Verstappen who fell foul of the stewards on lap 10, accumulating 20 seconds of penalties – for forcing Norris off the track at turn five and leaving the track and gaining an advantage at turn eight.
Norris called Verstappen, who battled back to finish sixth, “dangerous” over the radio and said he did not believe his rival was driving in a fair manner.
Stella praised Norris for sticking to his principals in the heat of battle and said McLaren have always backed the way their driver goes about his business.
“Our conversation and internal reviews have always been very clear – Lando we like, we approve and confirm the way you go racing,” Stella said in Mexico City.
“It is not for you to go there and try to find justice yourself. You go racing in a fair, sporting way like you do and then there needs to be a third party – that is the stewarding that will say whether some manoeuvres are fair or not.
“Don’t be desperate, you don’t have to prove anything. You go racing fair and square. That is what we want from Lando, that is what Lando wants from himself and I think it is important though that the team confirms that is what we want from you.”
Ahead of this weekend’s race, Norris had said he might need to change his driving style to compete with Verstappen and even said he was “not on the level” of the championship leader.
“Lando can look at his own racing, often looking at a half-empty glass in relation to what he could do,” Stella added.
“I always needed to have a conversation with Lando to reassure him, ‘don’t worry, it will be alright’.
“In this sense this is a positive day because it has proven that – I think it is good to race hard but it can’t be resolved on track by the two drivers.
“It needs a third party, the authorities. We are completely happy with the way Lando has been racing before.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner disputed the initial penalty handed to Verstappen at turn five as Norris went around the outside.
Horner arrived for his media duties with printed out GPS charts, which he claimed showed Norris had gone into that corner later on the brakes and faster than he had done on his fastest lap of the race.
“It used to be a reward of the bravest to go round the outside,” Horner said.
“I think we are in danger of flipping the overtaking laws upside down where drivers will just try to get their nose ahead at the apex and then claim that they have to be given room on the exit.
“They need to get back to basics – if you are on the outside you will not have priority.
“Otherwise we will end up with a mess over these next four races. I think it’s really important that the driver steward, together with the drivers, agree something that is sensible rather than what we are getting.”
