"The rules need looking at": Verdict on the Max Verstappen-Lando Norris stewarding passed by former champion

World champion Damon Hill has said the rules for engagement on track need to be revised after Max Verstappen and Lando Norris's intense battle at the 2024 F1 US Grand Prix last Sunday. The two championship rivals put on a show in the final phase of the race as the McLaren driver, who was on fresher tires, tried his best to overtake the Red Bull driver for the final podium position.

Norris tried to get past Verstappen on track after he was overtaken by the latter on Turn 1 at the start of the race. The British driver finally made the overtake on Lap 52 of 56 but was adjourned to have done so outside the track.

Norris refused to give the position back and was eventually given a five-second penalty by the race stewards resulting in him losing the P3 slot and finishing behind Verstappen. In his post-race interview with Sky Sports, the 24-year-old reflected on the battle:

"He's overtaken by going off track, so I don't know what I'm meant to do. He defends by going off track, he overtakes by going off track," Lando Norris said. "He also went off the track. So, if he goes off the track, clearly he's gone in way too hard and also gained an advantage by doing what he did. But I don't make the rules."

The 1996 world champion Hill reshared the comments on his Instagram story and seemingly sided with Lando Norris over the rules' alleged lack of clarity.

"The rules need looking at," Hill wrote.

Damon Hill's Instagram story (@96f1champ)

Former F1 driver and pundit Martin Brundle said he was unsure about where the FIA's previously stated "Let them Race" approach, prevalent throughout the 2021 season, went given the penalties being awarded during the on-track battles.

---

Martin Brundle gives his take on the Lando Norris-Max Verstappen battle

In his column for Sky Sports, Martin Brundle wrote:

"I don't know what happened to the 'let them race' approach from a while back which worked reasonably well. As far as I'm concerned if you pass a car on the inside of a corner while remaining under control and not locked up, and keeping within the track confines, then you have won the corner and can take the normal racing line through the exit, and it's up to the driver who has been passed to yield, not to hit the throttle and inevitably run wide."

Lando Norris lost five points to Max Verstappen in the Drivers' Championship after losing three and two points in the main race and Sprint respectively at Circuit of the Americas. He trails the three-time world champion by 57 points with five races and two Sprints remaining in the 2024 season.