Formula 1 was once again involved in controversy during the sprint race this Saturday at United States Grand Prix. The action of discord has as its protagonists two old acquaintances, Lando Norris And Charles Leclercwho have already seen each other several times this season and who were about to finish against the protections in Austin.
In the final round of the test, the Ferrari They went on the attack to snatch second place from Norris. Carlos Sainz did so quickly, causing the Briton to make a mistake in the first corner which left him with the position on a plateau. Charles Leclerc, aware that the McLaren’s tires were on their last legs, wanted to do the same, but Norris was not prepared to be left without a podium.
The Monegasque pulled back at turn 16, the slowest on the Circuit of the Americas, determined to close the gap left by Norris. However, the British changed direction at the last moment and prevented overtaking.
Norris almost caused an accidentforcing Leclerc to avoid it at the last moment. In fact, Ferrari complained to the race director requesting a penalty for the Englishman. However, after almost an hour of analysis of the action, the commissioners decided do not penalize the McLaren driver.
The same did not happen with Alonso
This FIA decision conflicts with that taken at the Australian Grand Prix in March. On this occasion, Fernando Alonso was penalized for a much less aggressive maneuver which Norris starred in yesterday.
In this case, the Asturian was defending himself from attacks by George Russell two laps from the end, when he decided to anticipate braking in a corner to gain speed on the exit.. Russell made a mistake and ended up crashing into the protections.
Alonso was penalized 20 secondswhich dropped him from sixth to eighth position. Norris, however, due to much more aggressive action, left Austin without a penalty that would have left him virtually without options to fight for the title.
