Norris frustrated by "stupid" track limits

Sam Hall
Wednesday 13 July 2022 14:18

Lando Norris has criticised some of the track-limits decisions across the Austrian Grand Prix weekend as "stupid" despite drivers asking the FIA to be strict on violations.

The McLaren driver was joined by Zhou Guanyu, Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly in being handed a five-second penalty at the Red Bull Ring for running off the track on multiple occasions.

Although accepting he was at fault and should have remained within the white lines, Norris questioned the sense of some decisions.

“It’s the same for everyone if I think of it that way," Norris explained. "The annoying one is, the last two corners I completely understand.

"If you run wide there, it’s obviously so hard to judge at the speeds we are doing, but if you run wide there, you pretty much gain an advantage.

“But I had one in turn one [a track limits violation]. Where I got my penalty was turn one, where I had locked up my front tyre, hit the sausage kerb and lost a second going up the hill. I got track limits for that.

“I had been punished enough because I had lost one second.

“It’s a bit stupid for some of them but it’s life and it’s the same for everyone. We wanted consistency and so on but it’s frustrating when you’re in the car."

Norris - Gravel should be the limit

More than any other corner at the circuit, turn six was the main source of contention for Norris.

On the exit of the downhill left-hander, the kerb is supported by a more aggressive secondary kerb with gravel beyond.

Explaining the situation at that particular corner, Norris added: “The car is two metres wide. From the white line to the gravel you’ve got two metres and five centimetres and you get punished if you go into the gravel. That should be a limit.

“But if you go those five centimetres to the gravel, it’s track limits. That’s just a silly one.

“We’ve argued it. We’ve also said since last year we want it to be strict and we want it to be the same every time.

"Us drivers always want something different, something better and so on, so we’ll see. It’s just a difficult track on which to always judge the limits so finely.”

Additional reporting by Ian Parkes