Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff expressed his clear stance after McLaren’s Lando Norris was penalized for his overtaking move on Max Verstappen. Wolff called the penalty “odd and bizarre,” implying that “bias” might have influenced the decision. The penalty was issued in the final moments of the United States Grand Prix, where Norris’ overtake on Verstappen was deemed illegal, resulting in a five-second penalty that dropped Norris behind Verstappen, despite crossing the line ahead.
Norris had tried to overtake around the outside of turn one, with both he and Verstappen leaving the track. Norris returned ahead, and McLaren believed he was in front by the apex, but the stewards ruled otherwise. Over the radio, Wolff voiced his opinion on the penalty to his driver, George Russell. Russell asked if Verstappen had been penalized, to which Wolff replied, “No he did not get a penalty, and in the end, Lando got a penalty for being forced off while overtaking on the outside. I guess it was pretty biased decision-making.” Russell agreed that it was a “strange” call.
Later, in a discussion with Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz, Wolff suggested the penalties lacked consistency but stopped short of accusing the stewards of favoring Verstappen or Red Bull. He stated, “It is inconsistent. We’ve seen several similar incidents that were not penalized… receiving this penalty is just completely odd and bizarre. I think we know why, but of course, you can’t say that on TV. Sometimes there are interesting correlations when decisions are made.”
As a result, Norris lost more ground to Verstappen in the title race, now trailing the Dutchman by 57 points with five races left. Although Norris refrained from complaining too much, he pointed out that Verstappen “went in way too hard” and forced him off the track. Norris remarked, “It was pretty tight, Max went for a small gap… he had committed a lot, which he’s entitled to do. But, again, he went completely off track. He defends off track, he overtakes off track.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella also criticized the stewards, stating that both cars went off track and gained an advantage. He called the interference “inappropriate” and lamented that it cost McLaren a podium finish, after the team had been patient following an earlier incident at turn one.
