Ferrari finished 1-2 on Sunday at the U.S. Grand Prix as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris fought for third place. Ordinarily, a third-place battle wouldn’t make headlines. In this case, it did. How a rule was interpreted/applied on Sunday could affect whether Verstappen or Norris wins the 2024 Formula One Driver Championship.
Following a four-week break, the 2024 Formula One season resumed in Austin, and on Sunday, Charles Leclerc comfortably cruised to a Ferrari one-two finish (with partner Carlos Sainz) in the 2024 US Grand Prix.
With five races left in ’24, those were noteworthy finishes. Leclerc is now #3, while Sainz is in the #5 spot in the race for this season’s Drivers Championship. In the season’s team championship, Ferrari’s #3 team position is now within eight points of #2 Red Bull.
Those are important results, indeed. However, a significant controversy this Sunday involved Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, who battled all day for the final podium place. The winner (it turned out to be Verstappen) may have gained a significant psychological advantage for the remainder of the Formula One season.
Early on, Verstappen struggled for overall pace on his hard compound tires. In contrast, Norris rapidly closed in on Verstappen on fresher, hard compound tires. With ten laps remaining of the Grand Prix, Norris got on the tail of Verstappen and crucially got within a second of the Dutchman ahead, meaning he would gain the DRS boost on the long back straight.
It was ten laps of fascinating, hard racing between the two drivers.
Initially, Verstappen was perfect in his car placement and defence going into turn 12 at the end of the back straight, and he denied Norris an opportunity to overtake. But on lap 52, Norris finally got a better exit out of turn 11 and, with that momentum, overtook Verstappen down the back straight and in the DRS zone.
Controversy followed. Lando Norris managed to pull alongside Max Verstappen going into turn 12. However, as Verstappen fiercely defended the inside line with Norris on the outside, both drivers ran wide and went off-track, Norris far more so than Verstappen. Norris returned to the track ahead of Verstappen, with each driver accusing the other of wrongdoing. Verstappen said that Norris overtook him off the track, while Norris argued that Verstappen pushed him off the track.
The stewards agreed with Verstappen and Red Bull’s argument and applied a five-second time penalty to Norris, meaning that he would drop back behind Verstappen in the final race standings. The crucial part in the incident, according to the stewards, was that Norris was behind Verstappen at the apex of the corner, meaning that Verstappen held the right to the position at that point, and it was Norris who needed to back out of the move and avoid potential contact.
The impact on the Drivers World Championship is that Max Verstappen now holds a 57-point lead over Norris. However, if Norris had held onto the third-place finish, the gap would have been 51 points. That 6-point difference may be insignificant come the season’s end. However, no matter the outcome this year, the call has broader implications for Formula One regarding how ‘track limits’ rules are applied.
The Verstappen and Norris incident was not the only track limits investigation during the 2024 US Grand Prix, as numerous drivers went off track while attempting to overtake maneuvers. Penalties were applied to the driver who went off track as Norris did–and to the driver deemed to have ‘forced another driver off-track’–like the early race penalty applied to George Russell when he attempted to overtake Valtteri Bottas. The crucial factor in all incidents was who was ahead at the corner’s apex. So, in one regard, the stewards were consistent in how they applied the rules.
One issue leading to track limit incidents in Austin is the US Grand Prix circuit layout, which has concrete run-off areas on the outside of the circuit. That means drivers can run wide without any impact on their speed. On some corners, it benefits drivers to run wide to gain speed and achieve a better line on the corner exit.
The same debate applies to all race circuits with concrete run-off areas. In contrast, there are no such problems in two other circumstances: street circuits with walls and barriers covering the outside of the track and circuits with gravel run-off areas because running wide would take them out of the race or (at the very least) significantly impact their race progress.
So, following the 2024 season, Formula One should decide whether to place some gravel or detriment on the outside of all circuits. That move would end track-limit controversies adjudicated (as they are now) on opinion and interpretation of the rules.
Yes, a six-point swing could affect who wins the championship this year, but there is also the ever-present need to ensure that rule adjustments serve the sport’s long-term best interest.
