Lando Norris undeniably anticipated the start of the Saudi Arabian GP, however the standard FIA transponder fitted to the Briton’s McLaren did not register a jump start.
Onboard footage clearly showed Norris' car inching forward from its grid position just before the lights went out.
This triggered a flurry of team radio messages, with George Russell, starting alongside Norris, immediately reporting a suspected jump start to his Mercedes team.
The expectation for a costly penalty hung heavy in the McLaren camp as the race unfolded. However, after a thorough review, the FIA stewards issued a surprising verdict.
Relying on the data collected by the FIA's standardized transponder mandated on all Formula 1 cars, which precisely tracks a car's movement, the stewards revealed that the transceiver for Norris' car did not register a jump start according to the FIA's defined parameters.
Read on:
“The stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and determined that the video appeared to show that car 4 moved before the start signal was given,” read a statement from the officials.
“However, the FIA approved and supplied transponder fitted on the car did not indicate a jump start.
“Article 48.1 a) of the Formula One Sporting Regulations states clearly that the judgment of whether or not there was a jump start is to be made in accordance with the transponder, which did not show a jump start.
“In the circumstances, we took no further action.”
Norris was at a loss to understand why he had jumped the gun ever so slightly, but noted that he had immediately stopped his car which likely kept him clear of a penalty.
“I’ve never done this before in my life, so I don’t know why I did it today,” the McLaren driver explained. “Things happen so quickly, like it was pure instinct, not a reaction, not an input.
“You know, in these times you’re just reacting to something and I don’t know if I’ve seen another light. There are so many lights here.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen something and my body’s just reacted to it. But you’re just so pumped on adrenaline and everything. You’re just reacting to anything.
“If I’ve just seen something go off or another light come on or something, I’ve just gone on that.
“But I got it stopped and there’s been plenty of other examples of when people have gone and stopped and there’s never been a penalty.”
As far as the McLaren driver’s evening in Jeddah unfolded, starting from sixth, Norris was among the handful of driver – with Lewis Hamilton – who opted not to pit during the early Safety Car period which propelled him not the lead on lap 8.
He eventually fell back to fourth, sandwiched between Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, and then regressed to eighth when he finally undertook his pitstop on lap 37 of 50.
The bold strategy, which was highly dependent on a second SC period, didn’t pan out as expected but the Briton was happy to have given it a shot.
“We wanted to try something different and not just stay behind,” he said.
“We could have gained a lot of points or we could have lost a few. In the end we lost a few, but that’s just the way it is sometimes.
“It was a good try and I think it was the correct call to make.
“Sometimes I feel like we’re a little bit safe and it’s nice to be a little bit more aggressive, try something different. I’m happy with our decision.
“It wasn’t the best one, I wouldn’t say the correct one, but that’s the hindsight. So I’m happy with how we tried to execute it all.”
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