McLaren’s ‘Right of Review’ over Norris’s Austin penalty rejected

The ‘Right of Review’ submitted by McLaren over the penalty handed to Lando Norris following his scrap with Max Verstappen during the latter stages of the United States Grand Prix has been rejected.

It was confirmed on Thursday ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend that the Woking outfit had submitted the request over the five-second penalty that Norris received for overtaking Verstappen off the track as they battled for third place last time out in Austin.

READ MORE: ‘I’m not at the level I need to be’ – Norris reveals he will ‘slightly’ change approach after Austin battle with Verstappen

A hearing subsequently was held on Friday, with a team representative required to attend a video conference with the stewards.

In a document released by the FIA confirming the request, it was stated that the hearing would determine whether there was a “significant and relevant new element which was unavailable to the party seeking the Review at the time of the Decision concerned”.

If this was found to be the case, a second hearing would follow. However, it has been announced that the stewards have dismissed the request.

In a document explaining the outcome of the case, it is stated that McLaren argued that a statement on the original decision document was incorrect, that being that "Car 4 was overtaking Car 1 on the outside but was not level with Car 1 at the apex".

READ MORE: Norris expecting ‘work to do’ in Mexico after struggling to find a ‘good feeling’ during limited Friday running

The team suggested that this was an error because they had evidence that Norris had already overtaken and was ahead of Verstappen "at the braking zone". Red Bull, represented by Jonathan Wheatley, stated their belief that the criteria for a successful petitioning for a 'Right of Review' had not been met in this case.

It is further stated in the document: "In relation to relevance, McLaren appears to submit that the Stewards finding that "Car 4 had overtaken Car 1 before the apex (and therefore that Car 1 was the overtaking car) and that this asserted error is itself, a new element.

"This is unsustainable. A petition for review is made in order to correct an error (of fact or law) in a decision. Any new element must demonstrate that error. The error that must be shown to exist, cannot itself be the element referred to in Article 14.

"In this case, the concept that the written Decision was the significant and relevant new element, or that an error in the decision was a new element, is not sustainable and is, therefore rejected."

The stewards also noted that they believed McLaren's petition was lodged in "good faith".

"We acknowledge the Stewards’ decision to reject our petition requesting a Right of Review," said McLaren in a statement afterwards.

"We disagree with the interpretation that an FIA document, which makes a competitor aware of an objective, measurable and provable error in the decision made by the stewards, cannot be an admissible “element” which meets all four criteria set by the ISC, as specified in Article 14.3.

READ MORE: What the teams said – Friday in Mexico City

"We would like to thank the FIA and the stewards for having considered this case in a timely manner.

"We will continue to work closely with the FIA to further understand how teams can constructively challenge decisions that lead to an incorrect classification of the race."