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Windsor can't understand the stewards: 'Verstappen did nothing wrong there'
- Jarlo van der Vloed
Peter Windsor has been critical of the two incidents between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the Mexican Grand Prix. In both cases, the stewards deemed Verstappen at fault, resulting in a total time penalty of 20 seconds. The Australian analyst judged the two penalties himself and compared it to the famous moment between Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone.
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris met on track again in Mexico. The first incident took place on lap 11. Norris attempted to pass Verstappen in turn four. The latter forced Norris off track, which earned the Dutchman a 10-second time penalty. Windsor disagrees with this decision: "In the first one, Max didn't actually go off the track. Max just used all the road and in my book if you’re on the inside, you are entitled to use all the road."
"If the guy wants to try and pass you on the outside, then so be it. But of course, that isn't the rulebook. I think from Max's point of view, it was not very good judgement really. It was pretty clear, after what happened in Austin, that the logical thing would've been then to drop back and give Lando the position. But he didn't," Windsor said.
Second incident a lot fiercer
The two drivers clashed again on lap 11. Now it was Verstappen who was the attacking driver. He made an overtaking attempt at turn seven, with both drivers going off track. Again, Verstappen received a 10-second time penalty for this. Unlike the first incident, this one was fully justified, according to Windsor: "Then I think he made a big mistake. He went into the esses, into turn 7, the first left, where you never pass. Lando was sort of in the middle of the road and Max went BOOM down the inside."
"For all those that think it was entirely Lewis Hamilton's fault at Copse Corner in 2021, take note here. Lando went down the inside in the way Lewis did into Copse. Similar move, similar speed. He immediately ran wide and Lando ran wide to avoid him and he got another penalty for that. That one was totally justified. A, because it was not really a place to overtake. B, Max would not have done that pass if there were a line of trees there or a guardrail or a rock wall," he continued.
"He did it because there is all this runoff area. And that is not right. You don’t base a move on “Oh, if something goes wrong I can just go off on the runoff area'. If you do, you should get penalised for that. And that is exactly what happened there," Windsor concluded.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton