Lando Norris’ “Honest” Confession Leads to Possible Self-Sabotage as Haas Contest US GP Crimes

The United States GP was a haunting affair for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, who were disqualified for excessive wear of the barge-board beneath the car. This played into the hands of Lando Norris, who was promoted to the second spot. The Papaya Hero had gotten lucky that his car passed the check, or so he thinks! While Mclaren was laughing at Mercedes‘ misery, it looks like Karma has come to bite the Brit!

Earlier in the season, Aston Martin had filed a petition with the FIA to review the results of the Austrian GP, a circuit notorious for the track violations it incurs. The track saw more than a hundred timed laps deleted during the race, and chaos ensued as Sargeant, Albon, and others were handed out twelve penalties in total! But with Haas’ fall to last in the constructor’s standings after the US GP, the American outfit is hoping for the ‘Austrian GP Deja Vu’ to strike again. And after Lando Norris’ naughty confession, the tables might just turn in favor of Haas, leaving Norris as collateral damage!

A protest from Haas might rain on Mclaren’s US GP parade after Lando Norris claims ‘fair play’

The US GP was no different in terms of traffic limit violations to Austria. Although the circuit had half the violations as Austria at 35, there were many more that went unnoticed according to the drivers. The grid claimed that the FIA had failed to cover the entire circuit with cameras, especially turn 6, which left a blind spot for the drivers to exploit. Whilst Sergio Perez’s onboard was an open-shut case of many violations that went unnoticed, it was not evident that others had as well, until Lando Norris made a bold claim.

He openly bragged about his cunning, as quoted by The Race, “I did it as well, to be honest. I knew it was a corner [where] they couldn’t penalize me because they set the precedent in previous tracks of ‘if you can’t visually see it, you’re going to get away with it’. You have to know the gray areas and the things you can get away with and that was one of them. So to everyone that did to it, fair play.”

Norris was trying to make a point that drivers are well aware of what goes and doesn’t at the driver’s briefing. After all, given just how competitive the grid can be at times, it’s no wonder that the drivers will aim to exploit each rule to their advantage. He pointed toward ‘fair play’ because everyone was doing it and there was little to no likelihood of penalization given the lack of visibility in turn 6 for FIA scrutiny.

READ MORE: Lando Norris Upsets Max Verstappen in Brazil to Replicate Oscar Piastri’s Maiden Qatar Sprint Pole

However, this might just end up in Norris self-sabotaging his second-place finish, as Haas has put on their Sherlock Holmes persona, analyzing any footage available that could prove the driver’s wrongdoing down in turn 6 at the US Grand Prix. 

Apart from Lando Norris, who are the other drivers under threat?

Haas had confirmed to The Race that they were indeed filing a request to review the track limit violations that went unnoticed. While they avoided spilling any details regarding the evidence, that word itself is really important. After all, like any hearing, no arguments will be entertained. Only cold-hard evidence presented will warrant the FIA to even accept the request for further investigation.

While there is no evidence from the FIA’s CCTV footage, the American team has spent time reviewing available onboard footage of drivers and has found four primary suspects. Sergio Perez is allegedly the most frequent violator, joined by Alex Albon, Logan Sargeant, and Lance Stroll, in no particular order. Whilst Albon was reprimanded with a 5-second penalty mid-race for a violation, other repetitions were dismissed due to lack of evidence.

What makes Albon and Sargeant prime targets for Haas is the fact that Nico Hulkenberg finished only 2 seconds down on Sargeant, and 4 seconds behind Albon. This means that if their appeal goes through, any penalties incurred by William’s drivers will result in a complete shift in the points distributed. The result was a complete flip in the battle for eighth in the constructor’s standings, Williams was the biggest loser.

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With approximately $10 Million on the line between eighth and last, the stakes are high for Haas and Williams. While the American outfit is looking to settle the score from the US GP, Lando Norris may find his confession to the media used as evidence. Ultimately resulting in tragedy for the Papaya Army. Which way will this go down?