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McLaren have Mercedes agreement should Norris be handed F1 race ban

Lando Norris could be hit with a one-race ban at some point this season. If the Briton is forced to miss some time, McLaren already have a plan in place.

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl says the team has an agreement in place with Mercedes to borrow a reserve driver should Lando Norris pick up a one-race ban this season. The Briton sits on 10 penalty points after picking up another two following his contentious battle with Sergio Perez at the Austrian GP. That number will drop to eight before the British GP, however Norris will carry that number until the middle of November as the points count across a rolling 12-month period. In the event Norris is banned, Seidl says McLaren already have a plan in place. "We have an agreement with Mercedes regarding the reserve drivers," Seidl told RTL. Stoffel Vandoorne is believed to be the most likely option, having previously driven for McLaren full-time in 2017 and 2018. The other option is Nico Hulkenberg, who could return to the F1 grid in 2022 . Either way, Seidl thanks F1 should revisit its point system for penalties. "It is not reassuring," Seidl added. "There is a fundamental risk. "It cannot be in the spirit of F1 that a driver has to sit out a race for the kind of incident we saw in Spielberg."

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