Source:REUTERS/Carlos Perez Gallardo
[Saba Sports News] During the Mexican F1 Grand Prix last weekend, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was penalized with a total of 20 seconds for pushing McLaren driver Lando Norris off the track. This sparked dissatisfaction from Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who believed that the FIA’s two 10-second penalties for Verstappen were too harsh. In the post-race press conference, Horner presented telemetry data to defend Verstappen. He showed reporters GPS data from Norris during the race, indicating that Norris was traveling 15 km/h faster than his fastest lap during the lap of the collision and braked later, suggesting that at such speed, Norris could not have made it through Turn 4 without going off track. The onboard video also showed this from Norris’s steering actions. More importantly, at that stage, Norris’s car was heavier, possibly carrying about 80 kg more fuel than when he set his fastest lap, making it clear that his going off track had nothing to do with Verstappen. Some fans commented that late braking is a common overtaking method and is not comparable to the speed at the fastest lap timing point; they felt Horner was misleading the media and fans.