The United States Grand Prix race is complete with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc emerging the winner which is a perfect birthday gift for him which he gave himself in a very long time. But apart from Leclerc’s victory, everyone is talking about FIA’s penalty to Lando Norris who overtook Max Verstappen as both the drivers went off the track.
McLaren Fans called FIA very biased towards the Red Bull team and they are slamming the officials via social media. But Max verstappen said 'Everything was in the rule book about the white line'. So What is a ‘White line’? Why did Lando Norris get penalised and Max Verstappen was left? All these questions will be answered below.
Also Read: Charles Leclerc wins US Grand Prix as Verstappen extends his championship lead over Norris - Results
F1 follows ‘Track Limits’
Formula 1 tracks always have track limits to make sure the race is clean and fair. Every driver should stay inside the track limits and overtaking should be done within the boundaries of the track. If a driver violates track limits multiple times then he will be penalized for it.
What is a Track Limit?
The white line that covers the road like a boundary is called a Track limit. The drivers are not allowed to go off the track for overtaking cutting corners or gaining an advantage over other drivers. Staying on the track with two wheels and two wheels off the white line is OK, but if all four wheels are off the track limits then the driver will serve a penalty.
ALSO WATCH: 25G crash for George Russell ends qualifying, hands Norris McLaren's first US pole since 2007
What are all the penalties?
Practice Sessions
If a driver crosses the track limits during a practice session, then their lap time will be deleted automatically by the FIA. There will be no penalties for the drivers during the session even if they exceed the track limits multiple times.
Qualifying
In qualifying if the driver goes off the track their lap time will be deleted which will automatically put the driver at risk, so that he cannot make it to the next session or start at the front of the grid during the race. If drivers goes off the white line the lap time will be deleted. However, if the driver crosses the white line in the final corner of the lap then his next lap time will also be deleted.
Grand Prix
On a race day, drivers are allowed to go off the track only three times. In their third time, they will be shown a Black and white flag which means the next violation will bring them a penalty. After that, if a driver crosses the track then they will serve 5 second penalty and for the fifth time, they will get a 10-second time penalty.
Sausage kerbs to punish cars.
In 2002 FIA introduced a new plan to tackle drivers who go off the track. They brought Sausage Kerbs which are placed on some corners of the track. If the drivers run over those raised kerbs it will damage the cars.
Why Lando and not Max?
Many of the fans have a question in their mind. Why did only Lando Norris get penalised for crossing and Max verstappen didn't get a penalty? The reason is simple if you watch the overtaking video carefully both the drivers go off the track and Max stays near the track and comes back quickly into track limits. Lando is very outside the track and from there he overtakes Max. Overtaking off the track is not permitted. If Lando Norris gave back the position to Max Verstappen he would not have been penalised. McLaren didn't advise their driver to give back the position to Max as they saw both of them go out. so that is the reason he was penalised 5 seconds.
Max Verstappen was a victim before
In the 2017 United States Grand Prix Max Verstappen Oevrtook Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in the last lap by going off the track and gaining an advantage. After the race, Verstappen was given a 5-second penalty and he was forced to leave the cooling room and give his place to Raikkonen.
Also Read: 'You can't overtake outside'- Max Verstappen gives it back after FIA controversial penalty to Lando
/sportsinfo/media/member_avatars/image 59.png)
Follow Us/sportsinfo/media/media_files/2024/10/21/iaorwxRohrbr0Kbh8aLI.jpg)