McLaren: Norris was used to set new penalty precedent

McLaren boss Andrea Stella believes Lando Norris was used to set a new precedent with his Formula 1 time penalty in the Canadian Grand Prix by stewards.

The British driver finished the race in the points on the road, but was classified 13th after a five-second penalty was applied for "unsportsmanlike conduct".

Norris was given the sanction due to backing up behind the early George Russell-triggered Safety Car to avoid double-stacking behind teammate Oscar Piastri – despite his bemusement when asked about it.

And Stella believes the stewards may be wanting to clamp down on such infringements going forward.

Setting new precedents

"We spoke to the stewards right after the race because we thought these kinds of speeds under a Safety Car or even a Virtual Safety Car shouldn’t be the reason for an infringement," Stella told media, including RacingNews365.com.

"There's a possibility the stewards want to set new references. We will carry on discussing with them.

"Ultimately we trust their judgement, but we are reviewing once again the behaviour of Lando because we come out of this race very surprised that this has caused a penalty.

"We understand the position of the stewards, we understand that they may want to set a precedent so there's a kind of new way of interpreting the way you have to drive under Safety Car.

"If that's the approach, fine, but it is a bit of a shame we are involved in this – setting of new precedents.

"We will do the due diligence, because during the race, you can't look into this level of detail but there's still a race going on, and we are fighting for points.

"Still, I think if we could [have] overtaken [other cars], rather than being blocked, then we could have opened up the five seconds."