EXPLAINED: Why the stewards decided to hit Verstappen with not one but two penalties in Mexico

Max Verstappen was handed not one but two 10-second time penalties that dropped him out of contention for the win for the Mexico City Grand Prix – and ultimately helped title rival Lando Norris cut the Dutchman’s championship lead to 47 points with four Grands Prix weekends to go.

What happened? Why did the stewards penalise him? What was the reaction?

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What happened between Verstappen and Norris?

After Carlos Sainz re-passed Verstappen for the lead, Norris started heaping the pressure on the Red Bull. As they approached Turn 4, Norris launched an attack on the outside but Verstappen robustly defended, running late on the brakes and forcing the McLaren to cut the corner and rejoin ahead of Verstappen in second place.

Verstappen gave chase and dived down the inside of Norris at Turn 8, but didn’t make the corner and instead cut across it. That move forced Norris to go off track too, and when they rejoined Verstappen was in third with Norris fourth – Ferrari's Charles Leclerc having slipped past into second.

Norris was furious, describing Verstappen’s actions as “dangerous” on team radio.

What did the stewards have to say about it?

After reviewing marshalling system data, an array of video external video angles, radio and in-car video evidence, the stewards deemed Verstappen to have been at fault for both incidents.

They handed Verstappen a 10-second penalty for each, with two penalty points given for the first infringement (taking his total to six for a 12-month period).

This was the second time in as many races that Norris and Verstappen have given the stewards something to ponder when battling each other, with Norris deemed to have been at fault in Austin and subsequently picking up a five-second penalty.

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How did they come to that decision in Mexico?

Regarding the Turn 4 incident, the stewards said Norris was ahead of Verstappen “at the entry, apex and towards the exit of the turn when he started being forced off the track”.

They believed the move was done in a “safe and controlled manner and that Norris would have been able to make the” pass on track had he not been forced off by Verstappen.

That is a breach of Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 2 b) of the International Sporting Code which says that “a driver may not leave the track without justifiable reason”.

The stewards said the standard penalty for this infringement is 10 seconds.

Regarding the move at Turn 8, the stewards looked at various video angles, including CCTV and in-car video and found that while Verstappen was ahead at the apex of Turn 8 and would have been entitled to “racing room”, he couldn’t complete the pass on track because he ran wide, “incidentally forcing Norris off track”, and then kept the position (known as the lasting advantage).

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That is a breach of Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 2 c) of the International Sporting Code which says “should a car leave the track for any reason, the driver may rejoin. However, this may only be done when it is safe to do so and without gaining any lasting advantage”.

As a result, the stewards say they handed out the standard penalty of 10 seconds for such an offence.

What did McLaren have to say about the two incidents?

McLaren CEO Zak Brown was pretty punchy, saying the penalties were “probably not enough”. He told Sky Sports F1: “I mean it’s getting a bit ridiculous. I applaud the FIA stewards. Enough is enough. Let’s just have some good clean racing moving forward. Lando drove brilliantly.”

Team Principal Andrea Stella added: “In my opinion – and this is a comment that I make straight after the race, so there may be some more details in terms of looking at the incidents and interpretation of the incidents – but in my view, the penalties seemed to be consistent with the application of the guidelines in relation to these kinds of incidents.

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“I think from this point of view, this has been a positive day because it shows that authority exists. It shows that the stewards have done a good job, a good job that surely comes because of constant review, like we do in Formula 1 in any kind of thing you do – you then review and you try to improve, and certainly we as a team, there’s many things that we know we can review and improve.

“And to me it looks like this process has happened also in terms of stewarding, in terms of the FIA having taken some feedback constructively onboard, and we appreciate this, not as a team but as a part of the F1 community. I feel like I have to thank the FIA and the stewards.”

What about Red Bull’s point of view on Turn Four?

Red Bull boss Christian Horner had a different view of the first incident and brought a printout of GPS data that showed how Norris navigated Turn 4 on his fastest lap of the race and on the lap where the incident took place to his post-race media session to demonstrate his point.

“It was very harsh to give two 10-second penalties,” he said. ”There’s something more fundamental. I mean obviously there’s been a reaction to last weekend (when Norris was penalised for an incident with Verstappen), and I think it’s very important for the drivers’ steward and the drivers to sit down, because if I show you here on the GPS – this is on the run down to Turn 4.

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“This is actually Lando versus Lando, and what you can see is that the orange line is Lando’s fastest lap of the grand prix, so the point he is braking for Turn 4 and then obviously executing the corner. What you can see, is that on lap whatever it was that’s been the incident with Max, he is 15km/h faster, and later on the brakes than his fastest lap of the grand prix.

“He wouldn’t have made the corner. He would have run off track. You can see from his onboard steering. And of course at this point of the race he’s got probably 80kg more fuel than at the point that he’s done his fastest lap.

“It used to be a reward of the bravest to go around the outside, I think we’re in danger of flipping the overtaking laws upside down, where drivers will just try to get their nose ahead at the apex and then claim that they have to be given room on the exit.

“And you can see quite clearly he’s effectively come off the brakes, gone in super, super late to try and win that argument as far as the way these regulations are written, and then at that point you’re penalised.

“Now every karting circuit, every indoor karting circuit around the world, if you’ve got the inside line you control the corner. It’s one of the principles and the physics of racing. So, they just need to get back to basics that if you’re on the outside you don’t have priority. Otherwise we will end up with a mess over these last five races.”

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What about the Turn 8 moment?

Horner understood why a penalty was handed out for the second clash. “The Turn 8 incident is different,” he said. “I think Max was expecting Lando to give up the place, he’s obviously gone up the inside there and they’ve both run wide.

“Arguably I can understand, effectively forcing the car wide there, why there would be a penalty applicable to that. But I think that was the frustration of potentially Lando not giving back the place from this incident here. So, these things, they only escalate.”

Will Red Bull appeal the decision?

Red Bull and Verstappen reserve the right to appeal the two decisions, but it seems that is not going to happen.

“We won’t activate a right of review on this,” said Horner. “I think the most important thing is what is the way to go racing going forward? Because I’m not sure that it’s clear to the drivers.”

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What does this mean for the championship?

Norris cut the gap by 10 points to Verstappen to 47 with four race weekends to go.

However, the McLaren racer still has his work cut out to catch the Red Bull racer as he needs to score 12 points more on average than Verstappen each weekend to win the championship.

McLaren remain on top in the constructors’ championship, but Ferrari have moved into second and are just 29 points adrift with Red Bull down to third, 25 further back.