The race stewards have rejected the request to review the decision to penalize Lando Norris at the US Grand Prix for an ‘illegal’ overtaking maneuver on Max Verstappen, as expected. The new evidence provided by McLaren was deemed insufficient, leaving the Austin result unchanged.
Somewhat unexpectedly, McLaren, Lando Norris’s employer, decided to exercise their right to request a review on Thursday. The British racing team had to provide new and significant evidence, after paying €6000, to convince the stewards that their decision (a five-second time penalty for Norris) was incorrect.
Through a video conference, in which McLaren’s team boss Andrea Stella and Red Bull’s team manager Jonathan Wheatley participated, McLaren hoped to persuade the stewards to consider the case. According to the Woking-based team, this should be based on an error in the document announcing the decision last week.
The disputed point was that ‘car 4 (Norris) overtook car 1 (Verstappen) on the outside, but was not alongside car 1 at the apex’. McLaren argued that this statement was incorrect, as Norris had already overtaken and was ahead of Verstappen in the braking zone. McLaren labeled this error as significant, relevant, and also new evidence. The stewards disagreed and rejected the request for review, meaning there will be no substantive hearing and Verstappen remains third in the results of the US Grand Prix, with Norris fourth.
