McLaren to exercise right of review on Norris’ Montreal penalty
McLaren confirmed yesterday that they will exercise a right of review on Lando Norris’ penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix that saw the British driver lose five-second for a safety car infringement.
After George Russell went over the kerbs and crashed into the barriers on Lap 12 at the Canadian Grand Prix, the safety car was deployed to clear the track from the debris the Mercedes racer left on the track in Turn 8.
The safety car intervention prompted drivers to pit for new tyres, using the interruption to make a quicker pit stop. With the McLaren drivers following each other on track, Lando Norris appeared to drive deliberately slower to create enough of a gap for a double-stack.
The Bristol-born driver was subsequently accused of holding up his rivals deliberately and his action was deemed as “unsportsmanlike behaviour”.
Norris was handed a five-second penalty which meant that he lost his 9th place and finished outside the points instead.
At this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, McLaren announced that they will exercise right of review on Norris’ Montreal penalty.
“We are very supportive of the FIA and the Stewards, and we trust them while they carry out what is a difficult job. We appreciate Stewards need to make decisions in a short timeframe, analyzing complex scenarios and often with partial information and multiple elements to consider,” read the statement.
“In Canada, we were surprised by the penalty and uncertain as to the rationale behind the decision. We spoke to the Stewards immediately after the race to help understand the reasoning for the penalty.
McLaren Formula 1 Team exercises its “right of review” on Lando Norris’ 5-second penalty at the Canadian Grand Prix.
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) June 30, 2023
Full statement here. ⬇️
“The FIA’s regulatory framework has tools and processes which allow them and the sport to deal with the operational complexity of Formula 1, especially for decisions which need to be made during the race. The “right of review” is one of those processes which showcases the strength of the institution in allowing decisions to be reviewed, should that be in the best interest of the sport and this is something McLaren fully embraces and supports.
“Given this provision, the team took the initial explanation onboard and decided to review the case in a calm and considered manner, performing comprehensive due diligence, which included looking at the precedents. After this careful and extensive review, we believe enough evidence exists to a submit a “right to review” to the FIA, which we have done so.
“We will now continue to work with the FIA closely, in the same constructive and collaborative manner in which we normally do, and will accept the outcome of their deliberations and decision.”
FIA have confirmed that the hearing will take place on Sunday morning with a team representative from the McLaren F1 team asked to meet the stewards at 9:30 at the Red Bull Ring. The hearing will be held in two parts with the first part expected to clear “whether or not there is a significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the party seeking the Review at the time of the Decision concerned”.
Should the stewards determine that such new elements exist, a second part will of the hearing will take place at a time to be advised.
