Norris slams “dangerous” driving as Verstappen gets 20-second penalty

With all the talk before the Mexico City Grand Prix centred on the rights and wrongs of wheel-to-wheel combat, this was destined to happen wasn’t it?

Shortly after losing the lead to Carlos Sainz - who was untouchable on his way to Ferrari’s second straight win - Max Verstappen was on the defensive again as Lando Norris surged around the outside of Turn 4 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Some would argue too defensive. Unlike in Austin last week Norris made sure he was ahead at the apex, but Verstappen still ran him onto the grass when it looked like the McLaren could’ve made the corner.

That put the Briton ahead of the Dutchman, and moments later the three-time champ made a lunge for Turn 8 which took both him and his rival off track, allowing Charles Leclerc to sweep into second place.

Lando was… rather displeased. “This guy is dangerous,” he complained to his race engineer over the radio. “I just have to avoid a crash. It’s the same as last time mate. I’ll end up in a wall in a minute.”

The stewards seemed to agree. A short while later Max was slapped with a 10-second penalty for the first incident, and then given another 10-second penalty for the second. “10? That’s quite impressive,” said Verstappen. “And how about him then, Turn 4? That’s fine then? That’s silly man.”

And so Verstappen was forced to wait in his pit box for 20 entire seconds when he made his only pitstop, thus dropping him well out of contention for the podium.

Meanwhile Norris, now no longer transfixed on the huge ORACLE ad on the back of the Red Bull, could get the hammer down. For the next 35 laps he slowly chipped away at his 6.5s deficit to Leclerc, until he was right on his gearbox with eight laps to go.

The pressure was too much for Leclerc: beginning to struggle on his tyres he had a massive moment in the last corner - somehow catching the car before it was buried in the wall - that cost him P2.

Sainz was too far up the road for Norris and so that’s how they finished, with the Spaniard claiming his fourth career F1 win and Norris taking home 18 points; a 10-point gain on Verstappen, who finished sixth. With four races and two sprints left to go, the gap between them now stands at 47 points with 120 still available.

“I expect a tough battle with Max,” Lando reflected afterwards. “I don’t want to complain about it, you know? Because this is what I love. I love going into races and know he’s going to put up a good fight. But things like today are just a bit too far in my opinion. If I didn’t do what I did today and avoid him, I’d probably be out of the race.”

There was a meeting between the drivers and the FIA before the race, and the governing body has agreed to revise the rules in time for the Qatar Grand Prix next month so that forcing a rival off is penalised more harshly. Thoughts?