A rare ruling during the Canadian Grand Prix has left Lando Norris baffled after the McLaren star was penalised for “unsportsmanlike conduct”.
Norris was penalised for unsportsmanlike conduct during a safety car period, earning him a five-second penalty and dropping him out of the 10.
Norris was behind Piastri at the time and McLaren wanted to pit both on the same lap. The Briton slowed by more than 50 kilometres per hour to give the Aussie a gap to make his stop, ensuring his own tyre change wouldn’t be delayed by having to queue in the pit lane.
Norris argued it was within a well-worn grey area many drivers regularly play in and that the penalty is therefore inconsistent given punishments are rare.
Interesting is that penalties for this kind of incident are normally handed out as breaches against safety rules — driving erratically or dangerously while the safety car is deployed, for example.
The fact the stewards have reached for the unsportsmanlike conduct rule in the international sporting code — the rule book that governs all motorsport, not just Formula 1 — suggests the sport or the FIA may be considering taking a harder line on backing up the pack from now on.
Either way, Norris was left shocked.
“I only got told to box like three seconds before the box. By that time I was flat out, so it doesn’t make sense to me,” he told reporters.
“There are plenty of times where you go slow under VSC. So, if I get a penalty today I should get a penalty for the last three years as well and so should everyone else.
“But no, I don’t think I did anything wrong.”
Meanwhile, McLaren had another race to forget after failing to get either car into the points despite both starting in the top 10.
It was always an unlikely task given the faster Ferrari cars and Sergio Pérez were starting behind them, and the team was also caught out by Albon jumping the entire midfield.
Oscar Piastri had a solid race to 11th, missing the points by just 0.669 seconds.
“P11, a shame to be one spot off the points,” Piastri said.
“Very good first stint and then after that we just didn’t quite have the pace or the tyre life, but plenty to learn from the race.”
