The high bar McLaren must pass with FIA right of review protest

McLaren is seeking a right of review into the penalty handed out to Lando Norris in the United States Grand Prix.

The protest, launched in Mexico, will be heard by the original panel of stewards from Austin at 1430 local time on Friday 25th October, and centres around the five-second time penalty Norris was awarded for passing Max Verstappen off the track on lap 52. 

Article 14 of the International Sporting Code lays out the process, with McLaren needing to present "significant, relevant and new" evidence to the stewards that was not previously available at the time of the initial decision.

If it does this, the protest will proceed onto a second phase where the actual penalty itself is re-examined. If McLaren does not present such evidence, the right of review is dismissed and the penalty will stand with Verstappen maintaining third place and Norris fourth.

But McLaren is facing a high-bar in terms of previous rights of review protests teams have lodged to get the penalty overturned.

Right of review protests

After the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix, Ferrari lodged a right of review with the FIA into the penalty Sebastian Vettel had received for coming back on to the track and blocking Lewis Hamilton. 

Leader Vettel was given the five-second penalty, and although he crossed the line first, Hamilton was declared the winner, with Ferrari lodging the appeal.

In its evidence, the Scuderia provided seven items for the stewards to consider, including telemetry data, video analysis, Vettel's on-board face camera, GPS data, a witness statement from Vettel himself and Karun Chandhok's analysis of the incident on Sky Sports F1.

Only Chandhok's analysis and the on-board camera were deemed to meet the "new" threshold required - but the review was flatly rejected by the FIA. 

Chandhok's analysis was later dismissed as "not significant and relevant as this is a personal opinion by a third party."

Ferrari would also lodge a right of review protest after the 2023 Australian Grand Prix after Carlos Sainz received a five-second penalty for spinning Fernando Alonso on the second-to-last restart. It dropped Sainz out of the points, but was also rejected. 

Red Bull making evidence

Infamously, Red Bull also put in a protest to the FIA after the 2021 British Grand Prix and the collision on the opening lap between Verstappen and Hamilton. 

Hamilton was awarded a 10-second stop and go penalty for clipping Verstappen at Copse, sending him into the barriers with a 51g impact that required a brief hospital trip for the Dutchman for precautionary scans.

Red Bull was incensed, with Christian Horner demanding that Hamilton be disqualified for the move. 

As part of its right of review package Red Bull submitted a "re-enactment" of Hamilton's racing line through Copse on lap 1, created by Alex Albon in a filming day. GPS data was also submitted.

This was flatly rejected by the stewards as the Albon re-enactment was "not ‘discovered’ but created for the purposes of submissions to support the petition for review. And they were created based on evidence that was available at the time of the decisions. That clearly does not satisfy the requirements of Article 14."

After it was dismissed, Mercedes released a statement criticising Red Bull's attempts to besmirch Hamilton's "good name."

"We hope that this decision will mark the end of a concerted attempt by the senior management of Red Bull Racing to tarnish the good name and sporting integrity of Lewis Hamilton, including the documents submitted for their unsuccessful right of review."

Where does it leave McLaren?

At the time of writing, it is unknown what evidence McLaren has compiled to present to the FIA in its submission. 

If McLaren is ultimately successful in getting Norris' five-second time penalty overturned, he will reclaim third place in the United States Grand Prix with Verstappen dropping to fourth. 

It will mean the points deficit will change from 57 to 51, and give the team an extra three-points in the constructors' battle, with Red Bull potentially falling to just five points ahead of Ferrari.