McLaren has responded to the FIA’s decision to reject their request for a review of Lando Norris’s penalty. The team disagrees with the governing body’s assertion that the evidence provided by McLaren does not meet the FIA’s criteria. Nevertheless, the team hopes to continue its collaboration with the governing body.
The clash between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the final stages of the United States Grand Prix continues to cause controversy a week later. Norris received a five-second time penalty after the race in Austin because the British driver overtook Verstappen off the track. McLaren only requested a review of this decision a week later.
The stewards have since rejected McLaren’s request for review. The new evidence provided by the British racing team was deemed insufficient by the FIA. As a result, Verstappen’s third place in Austin stands.
McLaren Responds
“We acknowledge the stewards’ decision to reject our petition for the right to review,” McLaren responds to the FIA’s decision. Despite the British racing team accepting the decision, the team disagrees with the stewards. “We disagree with the interpretation that an FIA document, which makes a participant aware of an objective, measurable, and provable error in the stewards’ decision, cannot be an admissible ‘element’ (evidence) that meets all four criteria set by the ISC.”
These four criteria are that the evidence must be significant, relevant, new, and not previously accessible to the team in question. According to the FIA, McLaren’s evidence did not meet all four of these criteria. “We would like to thank the FIA and the stewards for handling this case in a timely manner. We continue to work closely with the FIA to further understand how teams can constructively challenge decisions that lead to an incorrect classification of the race,” says McLaren.
