McLaren's attempt to overturn Lando Norris' penalty from the United States Grand Prix was denied after the Austin stewards rejected the team's right of review request. The US GP stewards met with representatives from McLaren, Red Bull, and the FIA via video conference between Friday’s practice sessions for the Mexico City Grand Prix. McLaren challenged the decision to penalize Norris with a five-second time penalty for his overtake on Max Verstappen last Sunday.
To reopen the case, McLaren needed to present what the stewards would consider a "significant and relevant new element" of evidence that hadn’t been available when the initial decision was made. McLaren claimed that Verstappen, not Norris, was the car executing the overtake, which they argued the stewards had misunderstood in their initial decision.
However, the stewards concluded five hours after the hearing that McLaren's new evidence was "not sustainable and is therefore rejected," thereby closing the case.
McLaren's Team Statement After Rejection of Right of Review
"We acknowledge the Stewards’ decision to reject our petition requesting a Right of Review. We disagree with the interpretation that an FIA document, which makes a competitor aware of an objective, measurable and provable error in the decision made by the stewards, cannot be an admissible 'element' which meets all four criteria set by the ISC, as specified in Article 14.3.
"We would like to thank the FIA and the stewards for having considered this case in a timely manner.
"We will continue to work closely with the FIA to further understand how teams can constructively challenge decisions that lead to an incorrect classification of the race."
As a result, last Sunday’s race results from the Circuit of the Americas stand, leaving Verstappen in third and Norris in fourth. Verstappen maintains a 57-point lead over Norris going into the weekend’s race in Mexico.
What Happened in the Hearing?
McLaren’s team principal Andrea Stella and racing director Randeep Singh attended on behalf of McLaren, while Red Bull’s representation included sporting director Jonathan Wheatley and senior race engineer Stephen Knowles.
McLaren needed to show that their evidence was significant, relevant, new, and unavailable at the time of the original decision.
McLaren’s Arguments to Meet the Criteria
- The decision document contained an incorrect statement that showed a measurable and provable error by the stewards.
- The statement read, "Car 4 (Norris) was overtaking Car 1 (Verstappen) on the outside but was not level with Car 1 (Verstappen) at the apex."
- McLaren argued that this was incorrect and that evidence showed Car 4 (Norris) had already overtaken and was ahead of Car 1 (Verstappen) at the braking zone.
- They contended this error was significant, relevant, new, and unavailable when the original decision was made.
Stella noted that the evidence presented was a "legally sophisticated explanation" and a "substantive case especially compared to previous right of review cases." Initially, McLaren decided not to appeal after the United States Grand Prix, but Stella's perspective shifted upon reviewing the new evidence. However, the stewards did not consider these comments.
