‘I think I did the correct thing’ – Norris stands by approach to Verstappen battle in Austin after penalty

Lando Norris has insisted that he did the right thing by not initially giving a position back to Max Verstappen during their fierce late-race battle in the United States Grand Prix, with Norris subsequently handed a penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

After starting from pole position, Norris lost out to Charles Leclerc on the opening lap of the race, the Monegasque surging through into the lead after the McLaren man was pushed wide while fighting with Verstappen into Turn 1.

READ MORE: Leclerc leads dominant Ferrari one-two in Austin as Norris loses third to Verstappen after penalty

As the race progressed, Leclerc and team mate Carlos Sainz looked to have a Ferrari one-two locked in at the front – but behind them a tense scrap for third place unfolded between the two title protagonists as the event headed towards its close.

Following several attempts to find a way past Verstappen, Norris made a move into Turn 12 which saw him run off the track and return in front of the Red Bull, leading to the stewards noting the incident before deciding to give Norris a five-second time penalty.

The Briton crossed the line in third but, with the gap back to Verstappen standing at four seconds, the penalty dropped him down to fourth while promoting the Dutchman up into the final podium position.

Asked after the race to give his view of the scrap – and to share the thinking behind not giving the place back to Verstappen just in case – Norris explained: “I mean clearly I didn’t give the position back because we thought we were in the right – clearly we weren’t.

“I still think we were, considering Max went off the track – normally if you defend your position and you go off the track, you have to give the position up. In that case I was ahead, I kept my position because he needed to give it back, and that’s the way it is.

READ MORE: 'I have my opinion' – Verstappen reflects on ‘hard' battle with Norris as McLaren driver penalised in Austin

“I think I did the correct thing, but I don’t make the rules. Max drove well, it was a fun race between us, a good battle. He defended well, he did everything he had to do.”

Norris went on to criticise his own performance at the Circuit of The Americas as he continued: “I didn’t have enough today, I didn’t drive particularly well. It was a tough challenge out there with the tyres and the car, it was a difficult day.

“It’s tough when you’re on the limit and you’re trying your best, tyres are old and hot and it’s slidey, it’s easy to make mistakes – those things happen. But, yeah, I didn’t do enough today, I didn’t drive well enough – I get that, so I need to make some improvements.”

The weekend had not been a smooth one for McLaren throughout, with Norris admitting to “struggling the whole day” on Friday before suggesting after Saturday’s Sprint that the papaya cars did not have the pace of their rivals.

As such, when pushed on whether he could still take the positives from his race result on Sunday given the challenges faced across the event, the 24-year-old reflected: “Yeah, it’s tough. I think our only position we could have got today is third, the Ferraris were on another level comparing to us today.

HIGHLIGHTS: Leclerc takes United States GP win as Ferrari seal glorious one-two finish ahead of Verstappen

“Difficult to expect a lot more, honestly I think even if I led after Turn 1 I would have finished third at best, so when you look at it like that, I was only one position away from where I should have finished.

“But that one position is probably the most critical because it’s against Max. I’m not happy with today at all – we struggled as a team, I didn’t do a great job and both are not what we need right now, so we’ll both try better next time.”