Norris penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct has little precedent
Norris penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct has little precedent
Lando Norris and McLaren were caught out by his "unsportsmanlike behaviour" penalty in the Canadian Grand Prix
Article from the-race.com on the penalty Norris received for backing up the pack to create space for a double-stack. The article starts:
Lando Norris and his McLaren Formula 1 team were surprised by his penalty for “unsportsmanlike” conduct in the Canadian Grand Prix and felt it was a departure from how such incidents are usually judged...
I have not much of an opinion about whether this behavior should get a penalty or not... but good stewarding is consistent stewarding, and this is not that. If they are aiming to establish a new stricter and consistent standard here then it seems that should have been articulated in the race-director's notes and driver's briefing at the start of the weekend. If this batch of stewards just don't know the relevant precedents and backing up the pack will be fine again next race... well... doing better than that would be nice.
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I do think it’s a bit odd they used the Unsportsmanlike Conduct rule for it, but it’s also a perfectly valid way to enforce a longstanding precedent. Exploiting the Safety Car rules to impede other drivers has been pretty consistently off limits, so it feels like a bit of a storm in a teacup to kick up a fuss over the wording used for the breach. It’s not like the penalty was unusual, a 5s Time Penalty is basically the weakest possible sporting penalty outside things which are effectively warnings.
Exploiting the Safety Car rules to impede other drivers has been pretty consistently off limits...
This isn't an area of regulations I've paid much attention to in my historical viewing, but the reporting disagrees with this assessment. Here's a quote from Brundle's weekend debrief:
Even rival team managers were telling me post-race that it's been normal and accepted behaviour to build a small gap behind the Safety Car before a double team pit stop for a few years now, which indeed was Lando's firm view.
To the extent that your assessment of this being consistently off-limits is true, I agree with your conclusion. The reporting disagrees with that premise though, and it's not JUST McLaren quotes saying this is a change in enforcement.