By Alan Baldwin
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Formula One leaders McLaren have sought a right of review of the stewards’ decision that demoted title contender Lando Norris from third to fourth at last Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix, the governing FIA said.
Norris was handed a five second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when he overtook Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen four laps from the end of the race.
Stewards recognised at the time that Norris, on the outside, had little alternative other than to leave the track due to Verstappen doing the same.
The penalty left Norris 57 points behind triple world champion Verstappen, who finished third, with five rounds remaining including Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix.
McLaren are leading Red Bull by 40 points in the constructors’ championship.
The FIA said a team representative was required to attend a video conference with the stewards at 14:30 Mexican time on Friday, with the hearing in two parts.
The first part will decide whether there is a “significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the party seeking the review at the time of the decision concerned”.
If such an element is established, at the stewards’ discretion, a second hearing will then be convened.
Red Bull were also notified of the hearing and could seek permission to attend as a “concerned party”.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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