FIA announce Lando Norris F1 PUNISHMENT following Brazilian GP

A composite image of Lando Norris and Andrea Stella — Photo: © IMAGO

McLaren

FIA announce Norris PUNISHMENT following Brazilian GP

Lando Norris has been punished by the FIA

Originally written by Sam Cook. This version is a translation.

Monday 4 November 2024 21:00

The FIA have announced a punishment for Lando Norris after the Brazilian Grand Prix.

It was a disastrous weekend in Sao Paulo for the McLaren star, who finished the race in P6 whereas his rival Max Verstappen fought his way from the back of the grid to achieve the victory.

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That was despite Norris having a seamless weekend up to that point, winning the sprint race on Saturday before avoiding all the chaos on Sunday to take pole position in the wet, with his rival only qualifying down in 12th, with a five-place grid penalty.

The overall result of the weekend, however, sees Verstappen leave Interlagos 15 points better off than he was after Mexico, extending his advantage at the top of the standings to 62 points with just three races remaining in the season.

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris are in a fierce championship battle

Lando Norris could only finish sixth in Brazil

Norris hit with FIA punishment

Norris had looked to be in a good position in the first third of the main race in Brazil, losing out at the start to Mercedes' George Russell, but sitting comfortably in second waiting to launch an attack for the lead.

However, having pitted under virtual safety car conditions, both British stars were caught out when the race was red flagged on lap 32, with both Alpine drivers and Verstappen effectively gaining a free pit stop, putting them in pole position to battle it out for the race victory.

In the end, Verstappen won by over 19 seconds, with Norris left ruing what might have been down in sixth.

Following the race, Norris was hit with a reprimand from the FIA, following a bizarre incident that occurred at the start of the race.

Lance Stroll's crash during the formation lap in Interlagos caused an aborted start, with chaos ensuing as drivers scrambled to figure out what was going on.

Norris led the cars away on a second formation lap, despite the FIA announcing that the start procedure would be put back 10 minutes, allowing teams to come back onto the grid and prepare for the new start time.

The bizarre circumstances were taken into account, as the FIA announced in a statement that Norris would be fined €5000 for his actions.

"Although the signal was appropriately given the light panel illuminated as prescribed, and the teams notified by the messaging system, the driver left the grid and proceeded on a lap that he assumed to be an extra formation lap," the FIA confirmed in an official statement.

"As the driver was on the front row of the grid this triggered following drivers to take similar action. At some point the race director realising that for practical reasons all cars would now need to do an extra formation lap gave an instruction to the teams for all cars to proceed and return to the grid to follow the correct aborted start procedure.

"In the opinion of the stewards, the driver [Norris] precipitated the action of the drivers on the grid directly behind him."

Max Verstappen McLaren Lando Norris FIA Brazilian Grand Prix