Horner delivers stark 'overtaking laws' warning after Verstappen incidents

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner feels F1 is "in danger of flipping the overtaking laws upside down" following the furore that has unfolded with the incidents surrounding Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

Horner described the two 10-second time penalties for Verstappen after the clashes with Norris on lap 10 of the Mexico City Grand Prix as "very harsh", the first, in particular, drawing his ire.

As part of his post-race debrief, Horner produced traces of McLaren driver Norris' approach into Turn 4 on his fastest lap of the race in comparison to that on Turn 10 when he attempted to overtake Verstappen around the outside.

Verstappen was handed the first of his two penalties for forcing Norris off the track as the Briton, according to the stewards, was "ahead...at the entry, apex and towards the exit of the turn when he started being forced off the track".

Horner's trace showed Norris to be 15kph faster on the approach on that lap, and later on the brakes, compared to his fastest lap. He was insistent the 24-year-old would not have made the corner in any case.

Expressing concern as to the way the overtaking landscape is rapidly changing, Horner said: "It used to be a reward of the bravest to go around the outside, but I think we're in danger of flipping the overtaking laws upside down.

"Drivers will just try to get their nose ahead at the apex and then claim that they have to be given room on the exit.

"You can see quite clearly, he [Norris] has effectively come off the brakes and gone in super, super late to try and win that argument as far as the way these regulations are written, and then at that point you're penalised."

Horner - We need to agree on something sensible

Horner highlighted that from an early age in karting, young drivers are taught a specific rule of thumb regarding overtaking, which he feels F1 is making a mockery of.

The 50-year-old feels the drivers and the FIA must revisit the ideology of overtaking and make it simpler for all to understand.

The Driving Standards Guidelines, a document overseen by the FIA and the drivers regarding the principles of racing, are due to be revised following the drivers' briefing ahead of the Mexico City GP, and in the wake of the incident between Verstappen and Norris in the previous weekend's USGP.

"Every karting circuit, every indoor karting circuit around the world, if you've got the inside line, you control the corner," asserted Horner. "It's one of the principles in the physics of racing.

"I think they just need to get back to basics, that if you're on the outside, you don't have priority, otherwise, we will end up with a mess over these last few races.

"It's really important that the stewards, together with the drivers, agree on something sensible, rather than what we're getting."

Referencing a later and similar incident in the race between Sergio Perez and Liam Lawson, with neither driver punished, Horner added: "There's an inconsistency.

"Should Checo have been penalised in the same incident with Liam, for example? That's one of the fundamentals that needs to be addressed."