Horner uses data from Norris to prove Verstappen was innocent in Mexico!
F1 News
Similarly to Helmut Marko, team principal Christian Horner believes the penalties Max Verstappen received were harsh. The Briton cited data from Lando Norris to help visualise why Verstappen should not have been penalised in Mexico City this Sunday.
"Yes, I think it was very harsh to give two 10-second penalties," Horner began after the Grand Prix in Mexico City in the paddock. The Briton decided to also print out data, which he brought along the share with the media, in order to help them visualise what has happened.
Using those sheets, Horner shows that on Norris' fastest lap, you can see a different trajectory towards Turn 4, where Verstappen pushed his rival off. When Horner pulls out the paper with the data about when Norris was fighting against his championship rival, it is visible that Norris breaked later than he continued to do so on different laps in that aforementioned corner.
Horner on rules in the competition
"He is 15 kph faster, and later on the brakes than his fastest lap of the Grand Prix. He wouldn't have made the corner. He would have run off track. You can see from his onboard steering. At this point in the race, he's got probably 80 kilos more fuel than at the point that he's done his fastest lap," the team principal made his point about the incident.
"It used to be a reward of the bravest to go around the outside. I think we’re in danger of flipping the overtaking laws upside down where drivers will just try to get their nose ahead at the apex and then claim that they have to be given room on the exit. You can see quite clearly he's effectively come off the brakes, gone in super, super late to try and win that argument as far as the way these regulations are written. Then at that point you're penalised."
"Every indoor karting circuit around the world, if you've got the inside line you control the corner. It's one of the principles in the physics of racing. I think that they just need to get back to the basics that if you're on the outside, you don't have priority. Otherwise we will end up with a mess over these last five races. So I think it's really important that the driver stewards together with the drivers agree something that is sensible rather than what we're getting," Horner concluded. Eventually, Lando Norris could finish in P2, while Max Verstappen could only get up to P6 after he had to serve his penalties in the pit lane.
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi
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