Lando Norris’s penalty for overtaking Max Verstappen off track in the United States Grand Prix has triggered another controversy about Formula 1’s policing of driving standards.

Amid an intense fight between the McLaren driver and his Red Bull rival for third place, the incident between the pair at Turn 12 on lap 52 has divided opinions and once again left fans confused about what is and is not allowed.

Looking at the reasons behind the decision, Norris’ punishment was for overtaking Verstappen for third while he was off the track. In official terms, this falls under the remit of leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

This is because, in the judgement of the stewards, Norris had not earned the right to the corner – so going off track was entirely of his own making.

In the official stewards’ statement outlining the reasons for the decision, they say that Norris had not fulfilled certain requirements in the guidelines that stewards use.

The stewards said: “Car 4 [Norris] was overtaking Car 1 [Verstappen] on the outside, but was not level with Car 1 at the apex.

“Therefore, under the Driving Standards Guidelines, Car 4 had lost the “right” to the corner.  Accordingly, as Car 4 left the track and returned in front of Car 1, it is deemed to be a case of leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.”

And while Verstappen left the track himself in his defensive actions against Norris, the stewards did not think that made what Norris did acceptable.

However, they did conclude that Norris had a justifiable reason to be off circuit, because Verstappen had run wide himself, so that is why he was handed a lesser penalty than normal and was not given a strike for breaching track limits, which would have been his fourth offence and earned him a sanction.

The stewards added: “A five-second penalty is imposed instead of the 10-second penalty recommended in the guidelines because having committed to the overtaking move on the outside the driver of Car 4 had little alternative other than to leave the track because of the proximity of Car 1 which had also left the track.  In view of the above, we determine that this will not count as a track limit “strike” for Car 4.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, battles with Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

What the Driving Standards Guidelines say

The explanation of the stewards makes reference to the Driving Standards Guidelines, which is a document that, while not publicly available, has been sent to all competitors.

The guidelines have been pulled together by the FIA, and were created in conjunction with the drivers, to try to create a framework to ensure more consistent stewards’ decisions.

They are specifically aimed at offering a clearer set of rules for drivers, especially when it comes to working out when drivers do and do not have the right to a corner.

The document, a copy of which has been seen by Motorsport.com, outlines the rights that a driver has when it comes to overtaking either inside or outside of a rival.

In the Norris/Verstappen incident, this is classified as an overtake on the outside, which the guidelines state is “a more difficult manoeuvre to accomplish.”

However, it lays out three criteria for the drivers on the outside to earn the right to be given room “including at the exit.”

It states that they must:

1. Have the front axle AT LEAST ALONGSIDE WITH the front axle of the other car at the apex of the corner and to the exit.
2. Be driven in a safe and controlled manner throughout the manoeuvre (entry, apex and exit).
3. Be able to make the corner within the track limits

In the stewards’ verdict, it states that Norris had not fulfilled the very first criteria.

Overhead footage indeed suggests that while Norris had got alongside Verstappen on the run down to Turn 12, by the time they hit the apex – as the Red Bull braked later – he was no longer as far forward as the rules required.

Therefore, there was no requirement for Verstappen to give him room on the exit.

However, what the rules do not take into account is the fact that Verstappen brakes later than Norris to ensure that he was at the apex first, even though that extra speed carried him wide and ultimately off the track.

And it is also not clear whether, if Norris had got ahead on the straight, the situation would better be judged based on Verstappen actually being the car that is overtaking.

For a car overtaking on the inside there are similar requirements. It must:

1. Have its front axle AT LEAST ALONGSIDE of the mirror of the other car no later than the apex of the corner.
2. Be driven in a safe and controlled manner throughout the manoeuvre (entry, apex and exit).
3. Without (deliberately) forcing the other car off the track at the exit. This includes leaving a fair and acceptable width for the car being overtaken from the apex to the exit of the corner.
4. Be able to make the corner within the track limits.

Based on what happened at Turn 12, Verstappen fulfilled the first point, the second point is subject to debate and he did not fulfil the third or fourth elements.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, battles with Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Advertisement

The room for interpretation

There is one interesting element of the guidelines that it emphasised early on, and that is that there is no way to create a set of rules that are a perfect fit for every incident.

It makes clear that “racing is a dynamic process” and that there are multiple elements that the stewards will take into account when it comes to delivering a final verdict.

It says these include

1. How did the cars get to the incident? (E.g. late braking, diving in, moving under braking.)
2. Was the manoeuvre late or “optimistic”?
3. What could the drivers reasonably see, know, or anticipate?
4. Do we believe the manoeuvre could be completed on the track?
5. Was there understeer / oversteer / locking?
6. Did someone position / handle their car in a way that contributed to the incident?
7. Did the type of corner contribute to the incident? (e.g. camber, kerbs, curve, apexes)
8. What were the relative tyres / tyre age / grip?

So, in the end, the final decision of the stewards remains a matter predominantly down to their opinion and their interpretation of what has unfolded on track.

As the Guidelines state quite clearly: “The stewards will consider each incident, with expert advice from our driver steward, and make our best, but final, decision at the time.”

Lando Norris will start the race from pole position after beating championship leader Max Verstappen in a qualifying session that was curtailed by a crash for George Russell.

Norris and Verstappen are locked in a battle for the 2024 drivers’ title, with the Red Bull driver sitting 54 points clear.

Event	Date
	12:30
United States GP FP1
United States GP SPRINT QU Advertisement
United States GP SPRINT
United States GP QU
United States GP Race

What time does the US Grand Prix start?

The US GP will begin at 2pm local time (-5 GMT) at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

• Date: Sunday, 20 October, 2024
• Start time: 19:00 GMT  / 20:00 BST / 21:00 CEST  / 21:00 SAT / 22:00 EAT  / 15:00 ET / 12:00 PT / 06:00 AEDT (Monday) / 04:00 JST (Monday) / 00:30 IST (Monday)

2024 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix session timings in different timezones

How can I watch the US Grand Prix?

Formula 1 is broadcast live in nearly every country around the world. 

Europe: 

• Austria – Servus TV / ORF
• Belgium – RTBF / Telenet / Play Sports
• Croatia – Sport Klub
• Czech Republic – AMC
• Denmark – TV3+ / TV3 Sport / Viaplay
• Estonia: Viaplay
• Finland – Viaplay 
• France – Canal+
• Germany – Sky 
• Greece – ANT1 / ANT1+
• Hungary – M4
• Italy – Sky
• Netherlands – Viaplay / Viaplay Xtra
• Norway – V sport 1 / V sport + / Viaplay
• Poland – Viaplay
• Portugal – Sport TV
• Spain – F1 DAZN
• Sweden – Viaplay / V sport motor / TV 10
• Switzerland – SRF / RSI / RTS
• UK – Sky Sports F1

Americas: 

• USA – ABC
• Canada – RDS / RDS2 / TSN / Noovo
• Latin America – ESPN

Asia: 

• China – CCTV / Shanghai TV / Guangdong Television Channel / Tencent
• India – FanCode
• Japan – Fuji TV / DAZN
• Malaysia – beIN SPORTS
• Indonesia- beIN SPORTS
• Singapore – beIN SPORTS
• Thailand – beIN SPORTS
• Vietnam – K+

Oceania: 

• Australia – Fox Sports / Foxtel / Kayo / Network Ten
• New Zealand – Sky

Africa: 

Can I stream the F1 US Grand Prix?

Viewers can subscribe to F1 TV in selected countries to stream the race on a device of their choice.

Sky Sports and Movistar also offer their own live streaming service in the UK and Spain respectively.

F1 US Grand Prix – Starting grid:

World Rally Championship title favourite Thierry Neuville went off the road in stage 11 twice to hand Toyota’s Sebastien Ogier the lead at the Central European Rally.

The Hyundai driver’s lead came under pressure on Saturday morning from team-mate Ott Tanak before Neuville relieved the pressure.

However, two mistakes in the final stage of the loop dropped the championship leader to fourth, 33.6s behind new rally leader Ogier. 

Tanak, whom Neuville needs to outscore by two points to seal the world title this weekend, moved to second, 4.6s adrift, with Toyota’s Elfyn Evans fourth [+8.3s]. Takamoto Katsuta [+1m02.4s], Sami Pahari [+1m49.9s] and Gregoire Munster [+2m51.0s] rounded out the top seven.    

M-Sport’s Adrien Fourmaux retired from the day’s action after stage 10.

Challenging wet and foggy conditions welcomed the crews for Saturday’s first stage in Germany (Grant und Wald, 20.0km), which triggered plenty of drama.

Andreas Mikkelsen was the first to tackle the conditions after rejoining the rally having crashed out on stage five yesterday. The Hyundai driver suffered a slow speed spin on his way through the test he described as “very tricky”. 

Andreas Mikkelsen, Torstein Eriksen, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Advertisement

M-Sport’s Fourmaux, who felt there was something wrong with his car on Friday, was fortunate to continue after a wild moment when he ran wide onto a large grass run-off that resulted in his Puma sliding into trees. 

Luckily, he was able to continue, reporting that an intermittent front differential issue was to blame for the off.

“We have a huge issue on the front differential that we realised on the road section, I have no drive on the front, it is like driving a rear wheel drive all the time. As soon as there is dirt [on the road] it is hard to get it to go straight. It is undrivable,” said Fourmaux, who now had the use of his hybrid unit following yesterday’s failure. 

WRC2 driver Oliver Solberg suffered a similar moment at the same corner moments later but was able to avoid running into the trees. 

The tricky conditions were however tamed by Tanak, who produced a blistering effort to win the stage by 3.9s from Ogier to move ahead of the Toyota driver into second overall. 

“The car feels better today than yesterday but it is extremely demanding conditions out there,” said Tanak.

Rally leader Neuville opted for a steady approach in the slippery conditions that resulted in a time seven seconds slower than team-mate Tanak. Neuville’s rally lead had been cut to 0.8s over Tanak. 

The pressure on Neuville’s was slightly relieved in stage 10 (Beyond Borders 24.33km) as Tanak surprisingly dropped time through the test that straddled the Austrian and German border.

Tanak was 7.2s slower than the pace set by Elfyn Evans, who hauled himself back into the victory fight thanks to an impressive drive in difficult-to-judge damp conditions. Evans’ effort left the Toyota driver 10.1s behind rally leader Neuville. 

Neuville continued to stick to his plan in the challenging conditions, completing the stage without issue, 2.3s slower than Evans. Neuville was 1.1s slower than Ogier, who jumped ahead of Tanak back into second overall. At the end of the stage, Neuville actually increased his rally lead to 2.2s over Ogier.

There was further drama for Fourmaux who endured two off-road excursions. The Ford driver survived a first run onto grass but the second resulted in an impact to the rear of his Puma that necessitated a wheel change.

Fourmaux was able to reach the stage end but the damage to the rear of the car was too severe to continue. 

Team-mate Munster was also fortunate to continue without a stoppage after clipping a kerb with his left rear wheel. On the next test, he endured a brief run into a field that cost him valuable seconds. 

Munster wasn’t the only driver to find the grass in stage 11 (Schardinger Innviertel, 17.35 km) as Katsuta ran wide at right hander that left his Toyota sliding onto the run-off, before returning to the asphalt.

Grégoire Munster, Louis Louka, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Ford Puma Rally1

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

Rally leader Neuville was the next to find the grass as the drama ramped up another level. The Hyundai driver ran wide at a left-hander and ran onto the grass and into a 360 spin. 

After recovering from the mistake an optimistic pacenote led to another off that cost the championship leader even more time. Neuville was able to spin the car on the grass but became briefly stuck in a ditch while trying to get back onto the road.

Ogier inherited the rally lead while winning the stage in the process by 0.1s from Evans.

In WRC2, Yohan Rossel’s title hopes evaporated after a mistake on stage nine cost him more than 14 minutes. Rossel’s team-mate Nikolay Gryazin maintained his rally lead of the class ahead of the afternoon’s stages.

Williams Formula 1 boss James Vowles is so convinced that Franco Colapinto deserves a drive next season he does not mind the Argentinian returns to take points off of his current team.

Colapinto has caught the eye since he was promoted into an F1 seat from the Italian Grand Prix onwards after Vowles took the decision to ditch Logan Sargeant following a string of poor performances and costly crashes.

Eyebrows were raised over the decision to put F2 prospect Colapinto on board rather than a more experienced driver such as Mick Schumacher, but after just three races Vowles’ call appear to have been vindicated.

Colapinto has impressed in his three F1 grands prix so far, recovering from a poor qualifying to finish 12th in Monza before outqualifying team-mate Alex Albon at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and going on to take his first points as he came home eighth.

He then tussled with Sergio Perez before finishing 11th in Singapore and heads into this weekend’s United States Grand Prix with the praise from the Red Bull driver ringing in his ears.

However, with Williams having Albon paired up with Carlos Sainz from next year, there is no room for Colapinto to land a full-time drive. But Vowles wants to see him race in 2025, with seats at Sauber and RB still up for grabs.

“It’s definitely not out of the question,” Vowles replied when asked at an Autosport Business panel event in Austin if Colapinto could be on the grid next year.

“It’s more down to one or two other teams, not giving it away too much but, from my perspective, he absolutely has earned his place on the grid within a few races.

Franco Colapinto, Williams Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“He hasn’t finished growing, he’s going to get quicker and quicker, and I think other teams know that on the grid. So even if he’s taking points away from us, he’s a professional racing driver and should be racing in Formula 1. Simple as that.”

Colapinto’s first taste of F1 came when he took the wheel for FP1 at the British Grand Prix earlier this year.
Vowles knew instantly that the 21-year-old was fast, but has been excited by how he has maintained such speed when the chips are down.

“Taking a step back, I knew he was immensely quick,” he added.

“The first time we put him in the car at Silverstone, you sort of looked at it and went, ‘jeez, this is that quick’.

“But there’s no pressure on your shoulders [in FP1]. How does that translate when there’s pressure?

“Since then he’s been…Singapore is probably the toughest race to throw someone in at the deep end and he basically delivered an absolute near-perfect result the first time out.”

Max Verstappen secured a thrilling pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the United States Grand Prix, edging out Mercedes’ George Russell by a razor-thin margin of just 0.012 seconds. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has dismissed the investigation into their front bib as nothing more than a distraction tactic by rivals. Join Alex Kalinauckas and Jon Noble as they delve into this, along with all the latest updates from the F1 action in Austin.

0:00 Latest news on Red Bull front bib dilemma

4:00 Max Verstappens pole lap

5:38 Mercedes’ upgrades and performance

7:18 Tyre issues for the teams

8:05 McLaren’s poor performance

9:22 News tidbits ahead of the weekend 

Continue reading with advertising …

… or with a subscription

Visit motorsport.com as usual with advertising and tracking. You can revoke your consent at any time via the data protection page.¹

Use motorsport.com without any advertising banners, personalized tracking and commercials for a small fee.

Accept and continue

More information about advertising and tracking in our Data protection notice, the List of our partners and in Data protection information center.

Already a subscriber?

Log in here