US Grand Prix: title battle descends into controversy again

Well, that was to be expected wasn’t it? Lando Norris and Max Verstappen went wheel to wheel at the US Grand Prix, and just like in Austria they left everyone in uproar about the rulebook.

Let’s recap the drama in chronological order. Having dropped points to the Dutchman in the sprint race earlier on Saturday, Norris bounced back by sticking his McLaren on pole ahead of the defending champion later that day.

Having made a good start it looked like the McLaren driver had the inside line covered up into Turn 1, but Verstappen lunged for it anyway and both cars overshot the corner as Charles Leclerc swept into a lead that the imperious Ferrari wouldn’t relinquish.

“Yeah, I mean he’s clearly pushed me out,” said Lando over the radio. “He had no intent to make the corner. Even he went off the track, so I just had to avoid crashing into him or him crashing into me.”

Still, the stewards didn’t see it that way and no review of the incident was launched. Lap one’s always a special case though, ain’t it?

McLaren struggled for pace in the first stint but had better tyre wear than Red Bull, which allowed Norris to stop for hards six laps later than Verstappen, thus giving him a tyre life advantage to attack later in the race.

Which he did. After slowly closing the gap Lando harangued the championship leader lap after lap, with Max laying out a masterclass of defensive driving to ensure that his rival never got a clear enough run down the back straight to jump him for P3.

Until lap 52, that is. Norris finally got his nose ahead under braking into Turn 12, but having hugged the inside line Verstappen hung him out wide, with both cars missing the corner.

This is where it gets… divisive. Everyone knows you’re not allowed to overtake off track, but what if you think you’ve been pushed off the track? By a car that also left the track?

This was clearly Norris’s first thought as he radioed in to say: “I think I was ahead on the apex. Let me know if you think otherwise.” McLaren agreed… even though replays later showed they were wrong.

It left Norris with a choice: either give the place back and hope to get the move done in the four laps that were left, or gun it up the road and hope to be more than a five-second penalty’s worth ahead at the chequered flag.

Norris went with Option Two, crossed the line only 4.1 seconds ahead of Verstappen, and so was demoted back to P4. Oops. Another three points shipped in the title fight, with the gap now up to 57 points with 146 left to play for.

Norris and McLaren both lamented the penalty after the race, but if you gain a position outside the white lines… can you really have any complaints?

Perhaps the bigger question is should Verstappen’s move - he famously did it to Lewis Hamilton in Brazil in 2021 and again in Saudi Arabia that year - be allowed? As it appears to be with the rules written as they are…

We’ll leave you to work that one out among yourselves. Keep it clean please. Or TG will start dishing out five-second penalties…