McLaren claim Max Verstappen driving trend with FIA handling of Norris questioned

McLaren’s Andrea Stella has explained why the team didn’t tell Lando Norris to give position back to Max Verstappen at COTA.

Norris got ahead of Verstappen on track in the closing stages of the United States Grand Prix, having overtaken the reigning World Champion while both drivers were off track in the escape area at Turn 12.

Andrea Stella: Max Verstappen just went straight at the apex

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Norris and Verstappen had been engaged in a nail-biting thriller for the 10 laps prior to the decisive moment, with the McLaren driver armed with DRS and fresher tyres as the team had created an offset through the pitstop sequence.

Verstappen, coming under serious pressure from Norris, had defended vigorously as Norris attacked, and pushed the McLaren driver wide exiting the corner as he himself ran into the escape area. With the door shut, Norris nonetheless kept his foot planted and overtook Verstappen in the escape area.

He was thus given a five-second time penalty, demoting him behind Verstappen at the chequered flag – but the incident has caused non-stop analysis in the days since as the legality of Verstappen’s defence has been questioned, given he also ran wide through the corner.

According to the FIA’s Driving Guidelines, published in 2022, Verstappen’s defence was within the accepted standards of racing due to his position as the defending driver in Norris’ attack and, while he would likely have picked up a penalty for going off-track and gaining a lasting advantage, this was negated by Norris overtaking him off-track.

Speaking with the media, including PlanetF1.com, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella offered his view of the incident, with his immediate post-race reaction having deemed the FIA stewards’ involvement in the outcome as being “inappropriate interference”.

“I think the ahead of the apex, in relation to the interpretation of the overtaking manoeuvre is not the relevant bit,” he said.

“I think the defending car [Verstappen] goes just straight at the apex. We checked the video multiple times. It’s just going straight. It’s just going off track as much as Lando is doing, just giving no chance for Lando to complete the maneuver.”

“If I were a journalist, I would have done a bit of statistics ‘How many times Max has used this way for defending?’

“Both cars go off track, so I think both cars are gaining an advantage – if there’s an advantage gained. So for us, this manoeuvre was at the least neutral.”

Speaking after the race, Norris himself had suggested race officials should spend more time deliberating over such investigations – including conversations with the involved drivers – before making such critical decisions, a stance Stella agreed with.

“I am surprised that the stewards didn’t even feel the need to discuss with the drivers after the race. It is an uncertain situation,” he said.

“Get the opinion of the drivers, get the time to assess the situation with the level of details that is required when the situation is not so clear.

“So where is the urgency to interfere with the result of a race? With a championship cause? Just because you have to make the decision in 60 seconds? It’s a question mark that I think the stewards should take constructively. Positively.

“Is it really needed to make a decision so quickly and, in our opinion, so wrongly?”

The Spaniard also revealed that McLaren’s interpretation had differed significantly to that of the stewards, with the Woking-based squad believing that it was Verstappen facing investigation for the incident, not Norris, as Race Control confirmed the stewards were evaluating the incident.

This is why McLaren had not instructed Norris to yield position to Verstappen.

“When I saw that there was an under investigation, I was pretty sure that was because Max pushed Lando off the track,” Stella said.

“And in fact, we told immediately Oscar [Piastri], ‘Make sure you close five seconds on Max because there could be a position at stake.’

“So the interpretation of this situation between McLaren and the stewards is polar opposite.

“Other people, and under my responsibility, were in complete agreement by all the people involved in this interpretation this situation did not need to be investigated. Once we saw, and if anything, we thought the investigation should be for Max pushing Lando off the track, and that’s what we thought was going to happen when we saw that the case was under investigation. So for us, there was no need to give back the position because of the situation.”

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Andrea Stella: Defending by going off track cannot be permissible

Stella has been previously critical of Verstappen’s defensive tactics this year, stemming back to his battle with Norris in Austria where the pair collided with calamitous consequences.

The McLaren team boss was asked about the comparison between Verstappen running wide with the example of him steaming up the inside of Lewis Hamilton at the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix as they fought over that year’s title.

“That was extreme, because the speed at which Max missed the apex in Brazil [was] like, if you turn into Max, then it’s a big crash at the time,” he said.

“This one, it was a much lower speed so it could be a more benign situation, but it’s just the fact that you defend by going off track. This cannot be permissible.

“There are various guidelines I think that can be invoked to help the interpretation of this case.

“One is the one like leaving enough space. I think, personally, if Verstappen [had] been able to negotiate the corner for me, it was clear Lando should have given back the position.

“But Max is just at the apex and there’s no way that he’s thinking I’m gonna stop. That’s what makes the defensive manoeuvre not admissible.

“That’s why we say that this is, at the least, this is a neutral. If not, Max is once again, disallowing the car on the outside to complete the maneuver, because it’s just not possible for the car on the outside.”

With Verstappen and Norris having had an earlier incident at the first corner at the start as the Red Bull driver dived up the inside of the McLaren and also pushed Norris wide, Stella revealed there had been frustration – albeit with acceptance – of that moment.

“We were a little upset by the manoeuvre in Turn 1 because Max not only gained the position, but it cost the complete exit for Lando and, therefore, losing the positions on both Ferraris,” he said.

“At the same time, we sort of understood that the stewards might have applied the first lap mitigating circumstances, and we accepted it because we always have respect for the difficulties that the stewards operate under.

“But they should have respect for their job as well. When the case is so difficult, like Lando and Max, just take the time, review it after the race, hear from the drivers, and try to understand the subtleties.

“So I think the first lap first corner can be mitigated by the first lap interpretation.”

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