Heavy criticism of Norris’s punishment: “FIA should have stayed out of it”

The duel between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in Austin caused a lot of controversy. Norris was penalized for overtaking off the track, and not everyone agreed with that. Ralf Schumacher believes the two were racing and believes the FIA ​​should have stayed out of it.

Verstappen and Norris fought a great duel for third place in the final phase of the American Grand Prix. Norris had more speed, but Verstappen defended his position with everything he had. Norris tried to push his McLaren past, but both drivers went wide. Norris overtook outside the track, which earned him a five-second time penalty. At McLaren they thought that was a fair punishment, and they also thought that Verstappen drove off the track.

Jammer

Former driver and current analyst Ralf Schumacher is not a fan of the punishment for Norris. The German shared his opinion with his compatriots from Sky Sports: “Verstappen put his car in the bend and there was no room for Norris at that moment. Of course he would have preferred a better line, but I think it’s a shame. For me it was racing. Max tried everything, Norris tried everything. The penalty was not completely necessary from my point of view.”

Not fair

Schumacher tries to empathize with the drivers’ situation. The analyst understands the way they acted at that moment: “You can say, where should he go? Then he has to slow down, somehow figure it out again and try again the next round. That’s how you can But he is in the lead and then Max just drives in and out. From that point of view, I don’t think it’s fair.”

FIA

However, Schumacher does not appear to be taking a specific side in the debate. The German is mainly of the opinion that the fault here lies with the motorsport federation FIA: “I would have preferred that those two had been left alone and that the FIA ​​had stayed out of it. It was exciting to watch and in the end Lando was faster. That was also the case. Although the penalty was of course a good decision for Red Bull.”