Norris/Verstappen: Austria’s F1 clash is a ‘legacy’ of unpunished incidents in 2021 – Motorsport Week

McLaren boss Andrea Stella has claimed that Lando Norris’ collision with Max Verstappen at the Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix was a “legacy” of previous, unpunished maneuvers.

The thrilling final battle between Norris and Verstappen ended when the two collided with seven laps to go because the Red Bull driver switched to the McLaren at Turn 3.

The Briton blamed Verstappen for the incident, which left both drivers with flat tires and ended his race early, as he described his rival’s braking behavior as “reckless.”

But while Red Bull boss Christian Horner supported Verstappen’s claim that a 10-second penalty was harsh, Stella stressed that a driver was responsible.

“The entire world population knows who is responsible for this, apart from one group of people,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“If you don’t address these things honestly, they will come back.

“They were not addressed properly in the past when there were fights with Lewis (Hamilton) that needed to be punished more harshly.

“This way you learn to race in a certain way.”

Verstappen has earned a reputation as an uncompromising wheel-to-wheel racer and has been criticized for this in several clashes with his title rival Hamilton in 2021.

Stella claims that Verstappen’s aggressive racing style was not sufficiently curbed at the time to prevent a repeat of the situation after Red Bull was caught.

“There have been many incidents,” he continued. “We have so much respect for Red Bull and for Max that they don’t have to do that.”

“Almost jeopardize your reputation? Why would you do that?

“The race directors concluded that Max was entirely to blame for this incident. It’s not about a driver driving his way. It’s about him following the rules.”

“The rules must be effectively enforced.

“If a car retires from the race, the penalty must be proportionate to the result.

“Before this incident, he moved twice while braking. It is clear that we have to force the racing style.”

Speaking to the media later, including Motorsport Week, Stella elaborated on this, urging the FIA ​​to take this opportunity to tighten regulations to prevent a repeat of the incident.

“If you don’t address things in any human dynamic, as soon as you introduce competition, as soon as you introduce a sense of injustice, they escalate,” he added.

“It’s like everything. Here there was an unfinished work, let’s say, that came from the past and is a legacy that, as soon as there was a trigger, immediately erupted.

“The case escalated immediately. I think, as I said, this incident today should be used as an opportunity to tighten the boundaries and fairly enforce some of the rules that are already in place.

“But we have to be clear that these rules cannot be abused in such a way that you carry out a manoeuvre several times and then know that an accident will occur the third time. Of course, statistically speaking, accidents will happen.

“As I said, today is obviously frustrating, but for me it is important that the FIA ​​and the sport see this as an opportunity so that hopefully we can see more battles like this in the future. This means that McLaren is capable of competing against Red Bull, but we know it will not end in a collision. For us, a lot of points are lost.

“And a win that I think Lando deserved the chance to win. It could have been Max, it could have been Lando. That’s racing. But we don’t like racing with collisions.”