Just seven days after their feisty battle at the Circuit of The Americas, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris clashed again at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Verstappen, having taken the early lead from Carlos Sainz at the Autodromo Hermanos RodrĂguez, was suddenly under extreme pressure after his battery emptied and was vulnerable to attack from Sainz and then title rival Norris.
FIA come down hard on Max Verstappen with Mexican Grand Prix penalties.
Norris attacked Verstappen at Turn 4 but was once again forced off the track, the McLaren driver immediately calling out his Red Bull counterpart for what he felt was a “dangerous” move.
A second flashpoint then occurred between the pair, as Verstappen and Norris both took their battle off the track at Turn 8 and made contact.
But, unlike in the United States Grand Prix when Verstappen escaped with no action taken by the FIA stewards, it was a very different story in Mexico as the stewards hit the reigning World Champion with not one, but two penalties that were worth a whopping 20 seconds in total.
The first was a 10-second penalty for forcing Norris off the track and the second was another 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Verstappen would serve his lengthy penalty when coming into the pits on lap 28.
Re-live the first Max Verstappen v Lando Norris battle.
10!? That’s quite impressive,” Max Verstappen said, when he learned of the first penalty.
Race engineer GianPiero Lambiase replied: “There was a lot of whinging. A lot.”
The latest coming in between Verstappen and Norris been a few days after the drivers’ meeting in Mexico where drivers meet to discuss the future of F1 racing. Verstappen and Norris were said to have engaged in “direct interactions” with each other while discussing their first encounter in the US Grand Prix.
Further details of the meeting would be provided by Carlos Sainz after the youngster sprited to Q3, claiming a brilliant pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix on Saturday.
“I think it was a positive, productive meeting,” he said to the press including PlanetF1.com.
Many of the drivers expressed feelings on each of the situations and what we as a team believe is the best way to address each one of them.
Yeah, how you interpret those rules and those driving guidelines that the stewards are going to apply penalties with, they’re still the same coming into this weekend and probably I think they will be applied in a similar manner.
“Yes, I think for the future, it was a useful meeting and I think in Qatar, we will have some changes that will I think give a better outlook for the driver and better races in general.”
Lando Norris would move past his latest scrape with Verstappen to finish the Grand Prix in second, with Verstappen managing only a sixth place finish.