The penalties dished out to 2024 Formula 1 title contenders Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in the last two races were different because of a key Austin stewards’ discretion decision.
McLaren driver Norris was hit with a five-second penalty for overtaking Red Bull’s Verstappen outside track limits in the closing stages of the United States Grand Prix, while a week later in Mexico the Dutchman was handed a 10s sanction for track limits pass violation, which also included pushing his rival off.
This latter incident was the Turn 7 clash between the pair – seconds after Verstappen had also forced Norris off the track at Turn 4 in Mexico City, for which he was also handed a 10s penalty that he later served along with his other sanction in a lengthy pitstop that ruined his race.
The higher level of Verstappen’s penalty led some observers to wonder if the Dutchman had been treated in a harsher way, with Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko even stating it was "a reaction to all the incidents that took place in Austin”.
However, FIA sources have confirmed to Autosport that the 10s penalty is the standard level for such a manoeuvre as Verstappen committed against Norris at Turn 7, when it came to him leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage after putting in an aggressive overtake.
At Austin, the stewards of that meeting are understood to have decided Norris only warranted a five-second time addition because of the mitigating circumstances of how Verstappen had defended.
This was hard at Turn 12 at the Circuit of the Americas, where both cars briefly ended up in the run-off.
Article 54.3 covers the scope of penalties F1 stewards can choose to apply in these circumstances, with these ranging from the 5-10s time additions, plus drive-through and 10s stop-and-go sanctions – depending on the severity of the incidents in question.
Speaking about his Mexico penalties, Verstappen said after that race: “Honestly, 20s is a lot, but I'm not going to cry about it and I'm also not going to share my opinion.”
Norris said, “Austin, I don't think anyone should have got a penalty”, adding, “let's say we both kind of did things wrong”.
He continued: “I feel like I was made to do something wrong. The majority of drivers feel like that was the same thing. That's why you've heard of some of the rule changes that might be coming and those types of things.
“It's because there's a common consensus that it wasn't correct what happened in the result that I had last weekend. [Mexico], I think, was another level.”
