Max Verstappen didn’t waste any time calling out Lando Norris during their battle for the lead in Qatar, and it’s pretty clear why he did it.
The four-time world champion spotted Norris gaining on him under double yellow flags – a big no-no in F1 – and immediately radioed his team about it.
It wasn’t just about that moment. Verstappen’s been saying for a while that stewards treat him more harshly because he’s Dutch. He’d already lost pole position the day before due to a controversial penalty in qualifying.
The yellow flags were out because there was debris on track – Valtteri Bottas had run over a mirror that fell off Alex Albon’s Williams. When Verstappen slowed down as required, he noticed something interesting in his mirrors: Norris had closed the gap by about six tenths of a second.
That’s when he made the call to his team. The result? Norris got hit with a brutal 10-second stop-and-go penalty, dropping him to dead last. He managed to fight back to P10, but the damage was done.
Former F1 driver Jan Lammers gets why Verstappen spoke up.
“Max was still fighting hard for that win – nothing was guaranteed,” Lammers explained on the NOS Formula 1 podcast. “When you’re in the car and see those yellow flags, you do the right thing and lift off. Then you check your mirrors and think ‘hang on, how did Norris just catch up?'”
The timing was interesting, considering the history between the two drivers. They’d already had run-ins in Austria and Mexico this season, with Verstappen feeling he’d gotten the raw end of those stewards’ decisions.
“Max just wants consistent ruling,” Lammers added. “He’s following the rules while Lando isn’t. Just imagine if Lando had won the race by one second because of that…”
