The United States Grand Prix stewards handed out four penalties for track limits infringements in today’s race.
Lando Norris’ sanction was the most contentious, as it cost him a podium finish to his championship rival Max Verstappen. As with the other three, it involved a track limits sanction, and resulted in a more lenient five-second time penalty than the 10 seconds which has become the norm this year.
The incident Pierre Gasly was penalised for resembled the Norris-Verstappen incident more than the others, though it occured at turn 15, not 12. Several details were similar: Gasly was trying to overtake a rival (Alexander Albon) on the outside, was ahead as they approached the apex but not when they reached it, and overtook his rival off the track. The key difference was that Albon, unlike Verstappen, remained within the track limits.
The stewards’ verdict on Gasly was therefore very similar to the one they issued for Norris. In both cases the stewards noted the driver attacking on the outside no longer had the right to be left room by their rival.
“Car 10 [Gasly] was overtaking car 23 [Albon] on the outside, was level with car 23 at the apex but fell back briefly prior to the exit of the turn,” the stewards explained. “Therefore under the Driving Standards Guidelines, car 10 had lost the ‘right’ to the corner. Accordingly as car 10 left the track and returned in front of car 23, it is deemed to be a case of leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage.
“A five-second penalty is imposed instead of the 10 second penalty recommended in the guidelines because the driver of car 10 lost the right to the corner, albeit briefly, by only a very small margin.”
The two other incidents which resulted in penalties occured at the same corner where Norris and Verstappen clashed. In both cases they involved a driver on the inside forcing another wide. George Russell was penalised five seconds for forcing Valtteri Bottas off and Yuki Tsunoda received the same for his incident with Alexander Albon.
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The stewards issued identical verdicts on the two incidents, aside from the references to the drivers’ numbers.
“The Driving Standard Guidelines provide that when overtaking on the inside the driver must not force the other car off the track and must leave a fair and acceptable width for the car being overtaken,” they stated. “This did not occur on this occasion.
“However in mitigation, a five-second penalty is imposed instead of the standard 10-second penalty because the stewards determine that the forcing off track was not deliberate, and [Russell/Tsunoda] was in control of the car at all times.”
None of the drivers were given penalty points on their licences, which has happened in some instances of drivers forcing rivals off or leaving the track and gaining an advantage this year.
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2024 United States Grand Prix
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