Jenson Button proposes possible Lando Norris penalty over secretive McLaren sanction

Jenson Button has posed a potential repercussion Lando Norris could face after McLaren's secretive penalty against the Briton.

On Thursday, ahead of the United States GP, Norris and Oscar Piastri both revealed that Norris would be subject to "repercussions" for his move on Piastri on the opening lap of the Singapore GP, in which he made light contact with the sister car of the world championship leader.

McLaren did not intervene during the race, but in the two-week gap between Singapore and Austin, talks were held between the drivers and team bosses Andrea Stella and Zak Brown, with Norris labelling the decision to hold him "accountable" as "fair" and that he accepted the sanctions the team would impose on him for the rest of the season.

However, the sanctions and repercussions have not been revealed, with both Norris and Piastri obfuscating when questioned.

Button, the 2009 F1 champion, believes Norris's penalties could include having to play second-fiddle to Piastri when it comes to pit strategy. 

"I mean, you're always told by your team owner or team principal that one thing you do not do is crash into your team-mate," Button explained on Sky Sports F1.

"But normally, it is a telling off and you move onto the next race, it is not like they're fighting for 10th and 11th, they're fighting for the world championship - and this might be the only opportunity these two drivers get to win or fight for a world championship.

"So they need to be given every opportunity possible, and maybe it is going to be something like Oscar is allowed to choose when the first pit-stop is, in terms of which car pits first, because we've seen that it can be, and that's probably why they don't want to tell us what it is."

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Martin Brundle's view

Adding his opinion on the matter, Martin Brundle felt Piastri could also benefit in qualifying, with the use of the slipstream when required.

"Clearly, whatever they're going to do will be inside the team, and it won't affect them against others, but it is slightly odd," Brundle added.

"Because I think what McLaren is doing for the sport is actually very good, they can race from lights out to chequered flag with one proviso: 'Don't run into each other', and obviously there will be consequences. 

"Now, if it hadn't been Piastri alongside him, the team would have cheered those first few corners for Lando. It was brilliantly driven, but he just touched his team-mate.

"If we were in a development race, I think it would be Oscar getting the new parts first, or if it is a slipstream in qualifying, Oscar would get priority on that and that kind of intra-team thing, as it doesn't hand any advantage to other teams."