FIA REJECTS McLAREN’S APPEAL REGARDING NORRIS AND VERSTAPPEN

McLaren had appealed against Lando Norris’s penalty at the American GP, but the FIA did not accept this appeal.

At the American Grand Prix, Lando Norris received a 5-second penalty from the FIA for passing Max Verstappen off the track.

McLaren argued that the statement in the FIA’s published documents regarding the penalty was incorrect, asserting that Norris had successfully completed the overtake and was in a defensive position against Verstappen.

However, the FIA determined that the evidence presented by McLaren did not contain elements that were ‘new’, ‘significant’, or ‘relevant’.

McLAREN TEAM RESPONDS TO FIA DECISION ON NORRIS’S PENALTY

Regarding the penalty, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella and team manager Randeep Singh stated that there was a document related to Norris’s penalty that McLaren did not have access to during the decision-making process, which they believe should be considered as a “significant and relevant new element.”

Singh remarked, “The document on which the decision was based contained an objective, measurable, and provable error.”

Defending on behalf of Red Bull, sporting director Jonathan Wheatley asserted that McLaren’s arguments did not meet the criteria for ‘right to review’, stating, “The high standard required for a ‘right to review’ application has not been demonstrated in this case.”

In their statement, McLaren expressed appreciation for the FIA and the stewards’ swift assessment of the case. However, they disagreed with the decision not to acknowledge an objective, measurable, and provable error in the decision made by the stewards. They added, “We will continue to work closely with the FIA to better understand how constructive appeals can be made against decisions that lead to misclassification in races.”