FIA Chief Shuts Down Lando Norris’ Complaints Over Baku F1 Penalty

McLaren’s Lando Norris had a controversial qualifying session at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. After he failed to enter the pitlane following a red flag, the FIA rewarded him a three-place grid penalty as well as three points on his super license. While the 21-year-old didn’t agree with the decision, but FIA boss, Michael Massi had dismissed his complaints, stating that the rules of red flags are very clear.

Despite a disappointing quali, Norris had a fairly positive race on Sunday, crossing the line in fifth place.

FIA boss, Massi believes that Lando Norris should read the rule book

As quoted by RacingNews365, Massi said, “To be fair, the first part is when, from karting all the way through to Formula 1, when a red flag is displayed, the meaning of that is very clear.”

“Slow right down and come to pit lane immediately. So that there’s no ambiguity from a six year old, who’s in their first karting event through to Formula 1 is consistent across all circuit racing around.”

He added, “With regards to the penalty points and and the actual penalty itself, obviously, the stewards can apply any of the penalties and any penalty points that they see appropriate in an incident.”

“Yes, they do have a guideline to use. But, in this circumstance, they saw that it was fit to not apply what the guideline said because of the mitigating circumstances, which was a harsher penalty.

“However, with regards to the penalty points, they felt that it was appropriate being a red flag infringement,” Massi concluded.

Watch Story: Shortest F1 Drivers Ever Featuring Yuki Tsunoda & Lando Norris

How did Norris perform at Baku?

The young McLaren driver did manage to get into Q3 on Saturday and earned a sixth place start. However, the joy was short-lived, as the penalty forced him to start the Azerbaijan GP from ninth place.

Lando did manage to salvage his weekend by gaining some places as the race progressed. He found himself in fifth place as the checkered flag was dropped and earned his Woking-based colleagues 10 points.

Now he will be looking towards the French GP in the coming weeks and will try to avoid making the same mistake as Baku.

Do you think the penalty given to Norris was fair? Let us know in the comments below.

Read More: Lando Norris Reveals His Jubilant Reaction After Seeing Lewis Hamilton Go-Off in Baku