How Verstappen lobbied for Norris’s penalty · F1 · RaceFans

Teams and drivers using radio communications to push for rivals to get penalties has become a feature of modern Formula 1.

But seldom has it succeeded as spectacularly as it did for Red Bull and Max Verstappen in yesterday’s Qatar Grand Prix.

They felt they had been on the receiving end of a rival’s lobbying 24 hours earlier when Verstappen lost his pole position after being penalised for slowing in front of George Russell during qualifying. Verstappen dispensed with the threat from that rival on the first lap of the race and spent the opening stint with Lando Norris breathing down his neck.

So when Verstappen spotted an opportunity to put Norris under pressure, he seized it. Heading towards turn one on the 30th lap, Verstappen backed off when he saw marshals waving double yellow flags and told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to check that Norris had done the same. Lambiase had just informed Verstappen that Norris was able to use DRS on that lap, as he lapped Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber:

Lambiase	Info, I believe Lando has a free shot at DRS. Yep, Lando on DRS this straight.
Verstappen	Check if he lifted for the yellow.
Verstappen	There was a yellow in the middle of the straight.
Lambiase	Yep, there was, we’ll have a look, make sure he lifted.
Lambiase	Max if you see Safety Car or VSC you can pit. Otherwise, stay out.
Verstappen	Is there still a yellow or not?
Verstappen	Yep it’s still yellow. Stay on the racing line.

“I lifted because I saw the double yellow,” Verstappen explained afterwards. “And I know that, of course, if I wouldn’t have lifted, it would have been investigated straight away. So you’re just on it.

“I asked if he lifted because he had a DRS, I think, from a backmarker at the same time as well. And then, of course, when we came out of turn one, I saw that he was a lot closer. So I just asked the team to check it. It was just a normal question and I know with double yellows, they’re quite strict.”

After reviewing the footage, Red Bull reported back to Verstappen:

Lambiase	Lando did not lift, Max.
Verstappen	Report that, then.
Lambiase	Track is clear. And yes, we reported it, Max. Still no reply.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

A short while afterwards, Lambiase and Verstappen reiterated what had happened:

Lambiase	Just to be clear that was wide-open throttle, on DRS, to the braking zone at turn one.
Verstappen	Yeah there was double waved yellows there on that lap.
Lambiase	Roger that.

During the second Safety Car period, once he had made his pit stop, Verstappen asked for an update about Norris:

Verstappen	Anything on that yellow flag? Or you can just go flat-out through a yellow?
Lambiase	Literally just speaking about it now, Max. Stand by.

On lap 44, Lambiase informed Verstappen that Norris had been penalised. Verstappen did not respond:

Lambiase	Just information at this stage, Max, but race control now investigating the incident with Lando.
Lambiase	Lando has been given a 10-second stop-go penalty, 10-second stop-go penalty, which he needs to serve within two laps.
Lambiase	Lando in pit lane, Max. So car behind Leclerc, gap 3.2.

The penalty dropped Norris out of the points initially, though he later recovered to finish 10th. The championship fight between Verstappen and Norris may have been over before the race began, but Verstappen showed there has been no let-up in their rivalry, much as when Norris made sure race control spotted a potential infringement by Verstappen in Baku.

| Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free