Max Verstappen has given a bullish reaction to criticism of his driving after a controversial finish to the US Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver told his McLaren rivals to stop complaining in what is an increasingly tense series of exchanges between the two teams as Verstappen vies with McLaren’s Lando Norris for the world championship.
At Sunday’s race in Austin, where Charles Leclerc took a dominant win for Ferrari, McLaren were left fuming after Norris had attempted to overtake Verstappen for third place but was pushed wide by the Dutchman in the process and given a five-second penalty by the stewards. Norris took the place on track but with the penalty was demoted once more to fourth, losing vital points in his title fight with Verstappen, whom he now trails by 57 with five meetings remaining.
Norris accused the stewards of making a rushed decision and McLaren’s team principal, Andrea Stella, was equally damning in his assessment after the race, believing that since both drivers had gone off track the stewards had intervened unnecessarily.
Verstappen however dismissed their criticism as unfounded and prompted by the circumstances of a close title fight. “They complain a lot lately,” he said. “But it is very clear and it is in the rules. If you are outside the white line you cannot pass and I’ve been penalised for that in the past, too.”
Before the weekend began McLaren had brought the FIA’s attention to a device on the Red Bull that could potentially alter the car’s front bib under parc fermé conditions, one of the complaints to which Verstappen is referring. However in a tightly-fought championship run-in it is not isolated. Red Bull had previously questioned McLaren’s use of what they believed was a flexing rear wing after the Baku GP.
During the race Norris and Verstappen had vied wheel to wheel with one another for the closing 10 laps, a hard but fair fight until Norris made his attempt to pass at turn 12, a 90-degree left-hander. Verstappen was taking the corner on the inside line and was marginally in front at the apex, a key consideration given the way the regulations are written. However McLaren felt the Dutchman was deliberately braking late into the corner, knowing he would go wide, forcing Norris off and preventing him from completing a legal overtake.
After the race Stella explained McLaren had reviewed the incident repeatedly and that they believed Verstappen, while following the regulations, was tactically exploiting them.
“The defending car goes just straight at the apex, we have checked the video multiple times,” he said. “It is just going straight and off the track as much as Lando is doing, giving Lando no chance to complete the manoeuvre.
“How many times has Max used this way to defend? Both cars go off track and both cars are gaining an advantage. If there is an advantage gained, it was at least neutral.”
Norris described the decision, which saw him dropping five points to Verstappen over the weekend, as “a momentum killer”, while the debate around the incident and how the regulations are interpreted is likely to continue this week at the next round in Mexico.
Earlier in the race Mercedes’ George Russell was also penalised at the same corner for pushing Valtteri Bottas wide as the British driver tried to overtake up the inside rather than defend. It was a ruling the Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff described as a joke. Yuki Tsunoda was similarly punished for pushing Alex Albon wide but Verstappen’s dive up the inside of turn one, forcing Norris wide at the start of the race, went without censure.
“He didn’t get a penalty and at the end Lando got a penalty for being forced off and overtaking on the outside. I guess it is a bit biased decision-making,” observed Wolff.
