"Lando Norris is over his grid box": Max Verstappen points out potential infringement for his title rival at the F1 Bahrain GP

Max Verstappen pointed out that rival Lando Norris was out of his grid box at the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. The two championship rivals started next to each other for the race with the Dutchman in P7 and Norris in P6.

Norris was given a five-second penalty during the initial stages of the Bahrain GP for an infringement at the start, as the Briton apparently rolled out of his starting position before the race begun. This was an unwanted penalty for Norris, who has made an otherwise brilliant start to race, already jumping up to P3 on the first lap. As of this writing, he sits in P4.

Live on air, Sky Sports analyst Karun Chandhok reported that Norris seemed to stop in the correct position intially after the formation lap, but then seemed to roll out of his grid box when he was trying to switch into neutral. He was subsequently given the standard penalty for the infringement in question by the race stewards.

But it was his eagle-eyed rival Max Verstappen, who was the first person to report this infringement, who apparently called Norris out before the race even started. A delayed team radio by the Red Bull man was played while Norris was under investigation, in which he told his team:

"Lando is over his gridbox"

Lando Norris subsequently served his penalty on lap 10 of the race, as he came into the pits to get rid of his soft tires. He came out 32 seconds behind teammate Oscar Piastri, who was leading the race without having made his pitstop by lap 14.

Piastri subsequently came into the pits on lap 15, and joined in third, behind the two Ferrari cars. He got his lead back a few laps later when the Ferrari cars came into the pits.

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Max Verstappen struggles with slow pit stop during Bahrain GP

Max Verstappen behind Lando Norris at the start of the Grand Prix of Bahrain - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen was at the wrong end of a slow pit stop as he stayed a little bit longer in his pit box than he would have liked, due to the red light being on for longer than it should have. The Dutchman had pitted on lap 10 to get rid of his soft tires in favor of hard tires.

Verstappen came out of the pits, and lost any progress he had made. He had a simple message for his team in response over the team radio:

"f**k, man."

Verstappen was already having a poor time during the Bahrain GP, having struggled all weekend to find the balance in his Red Bull. The reigning world champion qualified in P7, while his teammate Yuki Tsunoda qualified in P10.

In the intial phase of the Bahrain GP, Verstappen seems to be struggling with the grip in his car yet again, as he sits in P9, after being ovetaken by Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli on lap 20 of the race.