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Lando Norris branded world-championship rival Max Verstappen “dangerous” as Formula One’s title fight exploded for the second weekend running in Mexico.
Verstappen received two 10-second penalties for twice forcing his title rival off the track, with stewards refusing to show the same leniency that they gave the three-time world champion at the previous week’s United States Grand Prix.
The pair made contact when Verstappen was unable to keep his Red Bull on the track, which forced Norris to cut the corner too.
Norris immediately hit out at Verstappen for his antics, with the British driver angrily declaring over his radio: “I was ahead the whole way through the corner. This guy is dangerous. It’s the same as last time. I’ll be in the wall in a minute.”
What happened?
Verstappen and Norris collided on the 10th lap of the Mexican Grand Prix when the McLaren driver attempted to take second place on the entry of Turn Four, just one lap after Verstappen had lost the lead of the race to Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.
With Norris forced across the grass as he cut Turn Five he emerged from the corner in front of Verstappen, who responded by launching his car inside into Turn Seven, resulting in both cars going off the track and Norris taking avoiding action to prevent a high-speed collision and cutting Turn 8.
The FIA stewards took a dim view of Verstappen’s defensive tactics, and elected to not only penalise him with a 10-second penalty for originally forcing Norris off-track, but to punish him again with the same sanction for the subsequent Turn Seven move.
The incident came seven days on from their controversial battle in Texas, which saw Norris punished with a five-second penalty for overtaking Verstappen while off the track after both had gone off.
Norris’s protests that he was forced off by Verstappen releasing the brakes and making no attempt to complete the corner within track limits fell on deaf ears on that occasion, but the Dutchman was not so lucky this time around as the blame was laid firmly at his door.
What did Verstappen say?
On Red Bull’s team radio, Verstappen and his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase appeared unsurprised by the punishment. “Max, for info you’ve been given a 10-second penalty for forcing Lando off the road at Turn Four,” said Lambiase.
“Ten? That’s quite impressive,” responded Verstappen.
“There was a lot of whinging,” added Lambiase, in reference to Norris’s team radio. “A lot.”
After the second penalty arrived, Lambiase said: “Max, update, you’re been given another 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn Eight.”
This time, Verstappen returned fire: “And how about him then, Turn Four? That’s fine then? That’s silly man.”
What did Norris say?
After managing to finish second to cut 10 points into Verstappen’s lead, Norris addressed the incident in his post-race interview. “I knew what to expect,” he said. “I didn’t want to expect such a thing because I respect Max as a driver but I was ready to expect something like this – this is not very clean driving in my opinion.
“I avoided it and it was a good race. I just keep my head down. I am doing my best, we are doing a very good job as a team. I think today we were probably the quickest in the end. We’ll keep pushing [for the constructors’ title].”
What was the reaction?
McLaren CEO Zak Brown believed Verstappen’s 20-second penalty should have been harsher. “Probably not enough,” Brown said when asked about Verstappen’s penalty. “It’s getting a bit ridiculous now, so I applaud the FIA stewards. Enough is enough.
“Let’s just have some good, clean racing going forward. I think the stewards are on it. I think that’s clear by the penalties that they assessed. I don’t think we need to do anything [more] just let the stewards do the jobs they’re doing.”
Sky Sports F1 commentator Martin Brundle gave Verstappen no sympathy, laying the blame on his shoulders after seeing replays of the clash. “I’m sorry, Max. That was outrageous,” said Brundle.
Rival driver George Russell, when told of Verstappen’s 20 seconds worth of penalties, simply responded: “Wow”.