McLaren’s Lando Norris has a reason to celebrate this week, after getting a win at his hometown race, the British Grand Prix. This win marks his fourth of the season and might be even sweeter than his win in Monaco. While many people thought the rain would be the main problem during the race, some on-track actions by other drivers sparked controversy. That includes some tense moments with teammate Oscar Piastri. Now, fans are left wondering if Norris’ win was earned or handed to him by the FIA.
Wet weather caused a rough start to the British Grand Prix. Lap one wasn’t even completed before a crash, and the start of what was a difficult race. Pole winner Max Verstappen wasn’t able to keep ahead for long, giving up his position to Piastri and then Norris. The drama began with the restart right after a Safety Car on the 21st lap. Verstappen was behind Piastri and said erratic driving and a sudden stop by the McLaren almost caused a crash. The FIA handed down a full ten-second penalty that Piastri had to complete on pit road.
Both McLarens were the drivers up front and were over 20 seconds ahead of the third-place driver when Piastri took his ten-second penalty. While they both stayed ahead, Norris was able to take the first-place spot. Despite Piastri’s call to retake his position, no changes were made, and Norris was able to take home the win at the British Grand Prix.
Fans are pointing to nationality as the reason Piastri was given such a tough penalty. It’s not a question of whether a penalty was warranted, but rather a decision made earlier this year during the Canadian Grand Prix. During a Safety Car during that race, George Russell could be seen breaking suddenly ahead of Verstappen. The Red Bull driver was forced to move to the side to avoid hitting the Mercedes. Verstappen called his crew to complain about the move, and the team implored that the FIA penalize Russell. The Mercedes driver, a British national, received no consequences for the move and went on to win the race.
The move looked like Piastri’s incident during the British Grand Prix. The argument is that Russell didn’t use the same amount of pressure on the brakes. Even with that contention, giving a full ten-second penalty seems like an inappropriate response. It could be asserted that a five-second penalty would make more sense, but that still doesn’t explain why Russell didn’t see any consequences. Instead, the stewards are coming off as coddling drivers they believe should get a win.
Even without obvious bias, it’s clear that two similar incidents weren’t treated equally. If Russell was able to get away with heavy breaking in Canada, there’s no reason that Piastri should have faced any consequences, especially a full ten-second stop. All the stewards did was make it seem like they were opening the door to allow a British driver to celebrate a hometown win, and a five-second penalty wouldn’t have been enough to force a Norris win. Even if there’s no bias, they certainly aren’t helping the accusations. While it’s easy to question what happened, Norris did win the race fairly and avoided the mistakes his teammate made.
The worst part of this drama is that it’s taking away from Nico Hülkenberg. The driver from Kick Sauber celebrated his first-ever podium in all his 239 Formula One starts over the weekend. Sauber also reached the podium for the first time in over ten years. Hülkenberg’s success should be the highlight of the weekend. Instead, fans are being forced to dissect where the FIA is putting all its resources. One thing is for sure: they’re making it easy to hate British drivers.
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