F1 News
Verstappen backed by Dutch pundit: 'Norris doesn't follow regulations'
Max Verstappen has been vocal about this, his nationality plays a role in his actions on track being looked at and punished -too harshly- by the FIA Stewards. So, in Qatar, while the Dutchman was battling against Lando Norris for the lead of the race, he saw the McLaren driver close up under waved double yellows and immediatly went on the radio to notify his team of Norris' trangression, and Jan Lammers, former F1 driver, understands why.
Even Christian Horner went on to say that Verstappen was "keen" on Norris being penalized for his infraction. One can understand why given the take the Stewards had on the pair's first clash in Austria, and then again in their first incident in Mexico around turn 4. Also, it must not be forgotten the controversial penalty got the day before during qualifying which stripped him of his pole position for Sunday.
At the Losail International Circuit, however, there was debris on the track resulting from Valtteri Bottas running over the mirror that had broken off from Alex Albon's Williams, which prompted Race Direction to bring about waved double yellows. It was at this point when Verstappen looked in his mirrors and saw that Norris had closed up by about six tenths. The four time World Champion went on the radio immediatly to notify his team and urged them to take action. The McLaren driver was later handed a stern 10 second stop and go penalty which demoted him to last, from which he eventually recovered to P10 at the flag.
"Lando is not following the regulations"
In this respect, during the NOS Formula 1 podcast, Lammers understood the actions of the Dutchman all too well. "Max had no reason yet to think: I [have] won this race. He still had to drive hard for it. Then when you are in that car, you see that yellow flag, you then let off the throttle and comply with the regulations, you get through those first two corners and you look in the mirror and think: 'hey, has Norris now caught up?'. Then you logically ask the question whether he [Norris] has overstepped," Lammers told the NOS Formula 1 podcast.
"Max wants to [the ruling] be consistent. He is doing something according to the regulations, and Lando is not. If by that action Lando had won the race by one second...", he concluded.
This article has been written with the assistance of Estéban den Toom