F1 News

Brown remains critical of stewards after Verstappen and Norris accident

Brown critical of the stewards: 'Verstappen keeps driving the same way'

5 July at 14:10
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  • Cas van de Kleut

The crash between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in Austria caused a lot of opinions after the race. From McLaren's side, they were angry that race control did not intervene earlier by taking action against the Dutchman, with team principal Andrea Stella comparing Verstappen's driving to 2021 (where he had multiple incidents with Lewis Hamilton). Zak Brown is still critical of the race organisers and stewards.

"We are concerned about what happened last weekend. Andrea [Stella] and I will be looking into that to make sure the rules are enforced consistently. I think it's more the stewards' responsibility to be more consistent in enforcing the rules," Brown began to Sky Sports.

The McLaren CEO continued: "I don't blame Max, he is driving at the limit, he is a world champion. So until someone tells him that what he's doing is not correct, I don't expect him to drive differently. So I think it really comes down to the pit wall and more consistency in our stewarding."

Brown points out X-post McLaren over crash

A few days after the crash, McLaren posted an analysis by Anthony Davidson on its official channels. In it, the former Formula One world champion came to the conclusion that Verstappen had moved while braking and was therefore the one at fault. Comparisons were also made with previous incidents by the Dutchman, including Verstappen overtaking Leclerc back in 2019 in a similar style to the way Norris attacked the Dutchman. 

When pointed out to Brown that Verstappen did get punished for his action, Brown referred to the video of the analysis: "I thought Anthony Davidson did a fantastic job in your show in showing in a very clear way what can be understood by moving during braking. If that had been signalled earlier, the incident might not have happened. So I think after a couple of examples of moving under braking, a black and white flag should be waved and he [Verstappen] should eventually get a penalty. Maybe that little tap they had would never have happened then."

This article was written in collaboration with Ben Stevens.