Lando Norris accused Max Verstappen of “incorrect” driving following the incident at the United States Grand Prix that led to him receiving a time penalty.
The McLaren driver overtook Verstappen in the latter stages of the race but was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track to gain an advantage while making the pass.
The penalty meant that Norris dropped from third to fourth, and now sits 57 points behind the Drivers’ Championship leader with only five races remaining.
McLaren have announced plans to launch a bid to overturn the penalty on Thursday, saying the Brit was left with no option but to go off the track as Verstappen broke late and ran wide and off the track on the turn.
“We’ll ask questions. We’ve already asked certain questions. It’s not something that needs to be done publicly or anything,” Norris told Sky Sports F1 when asked about whether the rules need to be clarified when two cars go off track.
“But we can just have conversations on why I got the penalty because I don’t believe it was correct. I think the majority of people don’t agree it was correct, but that’s life and sometimes it doesn’t go your way.
“I think things just need to be clear for the future on what’s allowed and what’s not. I think the fact of getting off your brakes to achieve just the ruling of being ahead at apex, no matter how wide you run on the exit, is incorrect and I don’t think that’s how racing should be.
“Of course, that’s the ruling at the minute and that’s just what you’ve got to deal with. So I think there needs to be some tweaks.”
Norris also admitted he did not think Verstappen’s driving in the incident was “how racing should be”.
“Max is the best in the world in this style of defence and attacking. So, I have to be at his level and at the moment I am not quite at the level I need to be at.
“It’s a shame to say, but it’s probably the truth. At the same time, it’s a chance for me to learn and progress.”
However, Verstappen did not understand the frustration, pointing out that he was following the rules during the incident in Austin.
“It’s how the rules are written. I don’t make the rules, first of all. I just follow the rules, as much as I can,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1.
“Of course, sometimes you get caught out with it. We’ve had that in the past. I just implement the rules and play with them.
“At the end of the day, you cannot overtake outside of the white line. That’s a very clear rule, and I’ve been done by it myself.
“So, I don’t understand why then, suddenly now, we need to ask and scream for changes in the regulations when it’s been like that forever.
“I mean, I grew up go-karting, F3, F1 – you know that you cannot pass outside of the white line, it’s as simple as that.”
