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Stella admits "the case is closed" despite disagreeing with the FIA
McLaren and Andrea Stella say "the case is closed" regarding the idea to lodge a protest against the punishment Lando Norris received for overtaking Max Verstappen off-track at the United States Grand Prix. Despite disagreeing with the decision made, the Italian team boss has told his team to forget about it and focus on the next race in Mexico.
McLaren not to protest against the FIA
McLaren and Stella disagreed with the FIA's decision to give Norris a five-second time penalty after he made a move on Verstappen off the track and gained the advantage, meaning he was demoted from P3 to P4 after the race ended. There was a brief mention of a protest right after the race, but the McLaren team principal silenced those rumours very quickly because new and relevant evidence would have to be provided to stand a chance of a review.
"The decision cannot be appealed. So for us, the matter is closed. Myself, the drivers, the team. Now we close this chapter. We hope that the FIA and the stewards will review the case so that in the future, we will have a better policy, a better stewardship of the racing. We now focus on the next race," said Stella after the Grand Prix in Austin.
"I don't think new and relevant evidence exists, because the only evidence that we have used so far to assess our interpretation, which is in disagreement with the stewards, is what is already available. So if you open up the right of review, I don't think it will ever be successful, because you don't need new evidence. It's just a matter of interpretation," the Italian concluded.
This article was created in collaboration with Nicole Mulder
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