Norris unhappy with stewards after 'unfair' penalty
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Lando Norris will start Sunday's Azerbaijan Grand Prix from ninth place. He is there after receiving a three place grid penalty. He received this penalty, including three points on his license, because he did not immediately go into the pits when the red flag was shown. He had to make a last minute decision and feels the penalty is unfair.
In Formula 1, when a red flag is waved during any session, drivers are obliged to immediately enter the pits. If they pass the start/finish line during a red flag situation, they will be penalized. Normally, a grid penalty of five places is given, but this time Norris only gets three, because the race management also realised that he had very little time to react.
Norris made 'safest choice'
Despite this, Norris also feels the three-place penalty is unfair. "I feel like what I did was exactly the safest thing to do," the McLaren driver is quoted by The Race. According to him, the pit lane could have been blocked and he would have been reprimanded for that. Moreover, there was now too little time for his engineer to inform him.
About the fact that he will receive penalty points as well he says: "I don’t deserve three points on my licence for this, I didn’t do anything dangerous. It’s my opinion that’s a bad decision or just an unfair penalty, an unfair ruling, but it is what it is, I can’t do anything about it," Norris said, urging the stewards to rethink their decisions.