feature-image

Reuters

feature-image

Reuters

The Austrian Grand Prix last Sunday ended up being quite an eventful day for the stewards, who were rather busy handing out penalties to the drivers like pamphlets. Two of the F1 drivers took the heftiest blow – Sergio Perez, and obviously, Lando Norris.

Watch What’s Trending Now!

It is quite usual to see the stewards disregarding lap 1 incidents, and claiming them as ‘racing incidents.’ However, that wasn’t the case over last weekend’s race at the Red Bull Ring.

ADVERTISEMENT

Norris received a penalty for ‘forcing’ Perez off the track around turn 4 of lap 1. What’s more, later in the race, Perez, himself, committed a similar mistake with Charles Leclerc twice. And the stewards awarded the Mexican with two five-second penalties.

Hence, following the race, McLaren’s boss, Zak Brown revealed he was absolutely disappointed with the FIA and reckoned there is disagreement amongst drivers over FIA’s stance on penalties.

ADVERTISEMENT

Brown unhappy with the Lando Norris penalty

As reported by Motorsport-Total, the American reckoned it was a ‘non-sense’ show from the stewards at the Austrian GP. He further insisted the FIA let the drivers enjoy wheel-to-wheel racing more often.

ADVERTISEMENT

It was nonsense to me,” he told Motorsport TV. “Since I’ve been in motorsport, that is for about 35 years, when you want to overtake on the outside, especially on the first lap, the motto is, ‘Watch out!’

article-image

Reuters

For 50 years it was great wheel-to-wheel racing. But you run the risk of running out of space at the end of a curve. I thought it was a great, tough race.

ADVERTISEMENT

And I think that sometimes we just have to let the drivers drive. Of course, we have to make sure that we respect safety and drive within the limits,” Brown added.

ADVERTISEMENT

Read More: McLaren: That’s One of the Reasons Why Lando Norris Is So Popular

It wasn’t a clean race: McLaren F1 boss

The McLaren CEO claimed that most of the viewers disagreed with the stewards’ decision on Norris. “But from everyone I’ve talked to, I don’t think there is a racing driver in the world who didn’t find it a good, clean race. And if you want to overtake or try to overtake, you take that risk,” he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

article-image

Reuters

When Norris crossed the finishing line, he was just over two seconds away from Valtteri Bottas, who was in P2. Hence, this clearly shows that Norris had every opportunity to claim the Finn’s position; however, the five-second penalty meant that he couldn’t.

ADVERTISEMENT

Nevertheless, the Briton drove brilliantly to secure his third podium of the season, and there is definitely more to come. So, Given his blazing form at the moment, can Norris clinch his fourth podium in front of his fan base at Silverstone next weekend?

Watch Story: What Are Sprint Races & Where Will They Be Held?

Share this with a friend:

Link Copied!

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Written by

author-image

Rohit Kumar

1,915 Articles

Rohit Kumar is an F1 author at EssentiallySports. He has been an ardent follower of the racing series since 2007, with his love for the sport coinciding with his love for Kimi Raikkonen. He is also an ardent follower of Sebastian Vettel and Aston Martin Racing. With his favorite track being Hockenheim and his favorite turn being Eau Rouge (Spa, Belgium), Rohit is a strong advocate for bringing back the pre-turbo-hybrid era V10 engines and their screams. Apart from being an author, Rohit is also a trained tennis player, having qualified for national tournaments. He has been a part of the Estilio Academy for over a decade.

Know more

ADVERTISEMENT