McLaren lodges request for right of review of Norris Canadian GP penalty

© XPB 

The McLaren team has lodged with the FIA a request for a right of review Lando Norris’ penalty for unsportsmanlike behaviour in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Norris was hit with a five-second time penalty in Montreal for slowing under the Safety Car regime during the race to create a gap to his teammate Oscar Piastri to accommodate an upcoming double-stacked pitstop by the McLaren pair.

The maneuver was frowned upon by the stewards as they believed that it had impeded the Williams of Alex Albon.

Unfortunately, the subsequent five-second time penalty handed to Norris dropped the McLaren driver out of the points, pushing him down from P9 to P13.

McLaren further discussed the sanction with the governing body but on Friday evening in Austria, the Woking-based outfit lodged a request for a right of review of the transgression.

In other words it wants the stewards to have a second look at Norris' actions.

Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren on the drivers' parade. 18.06.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 9, Canadian Grand Prix, Montreal, Canada, Race Day. - www.xpbimages.com, EMail: requests@xpbimages.com © Copyright: Batchelor / XPB Images

"We are very supportive of the FIA and the Stewards, and we trust them while they carry out what is a difficult job," said McLaren.

"We appreciate Stewards need to make decisions in a short timeframe, analysing complex scenarios and often with partial information and multiple elements to consider.

"In Canada, we were surprised by the penalty and uncertain as to the rationale behind the decision. We spoke to the Stewards immediately after the race to help understand the reasoning for the penalty."

In order for McLaren's request to be received by the FIA, it must submit new evidence or a fresh element that was not available to the stewards at the time their ruling was made.

"The FIA's regulatory framework has tools and processes which allow them and the sport to deal with the operational complexity of Formula 1, especially for decisions which need to be made during the race.

"The "right of review" is one of those processes which showcases the strength of the institution in allowing decisions to be reviewed, should that be in the best interest of the sport, and this is something McLaren fully embraces and supports.

"Given this provision, the team took the initial explanation onboard and decided to review the case in a calm and considered manner, performing comprehensive due diligence, which included looking at the precedents.

"After this careful and extensive review, we believe enough evidence exists to a submit a "right to review" to the FIA, which we have done so.

"We will now continue to work with the FIA closely, in the same constructive and collaborative manner in which we normally do and will accept the outcome of their deliberations and decision."

Update:

McLaren right of review will take place on Sunday morning at 9:30 am local time at the Red Bull Ring.

Williams has also been summoned to the FIA officials' meeting.

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