Lando Norris handed a boost in world championship scrap with Max Verstappen as controversial Red Bull device is outlawed
- The Brit’s fight with three-time world champion could well lead to the end
- PLUS: FIA makes surprise rule change in wake of Singapore Grand Prix
Lando Norris received a potential boost in his world championship mission on Thursday evening after the FIA forced his rival Max Verstappen’s Red Bull team to modify their car.
The intrigue revolves around a controversial device that allows Red Bull to adjust the ride height between qualifying and the race. The rules do not allow changes after qualifying if the cars are in parc ferme conditions.
A senior Red Bull team representative admitted: ‘Yes, it (the device) exists, although it is inaccessible once the car is fully assembled and ready to drive. In the correspondence we have with the FIA, this part came up and we agreed a plan for the future.’
Norris, who won the last race in Singapore to cut his deficit to Verstappen to 52 points with six laps to go, welcomed the news. Speaking ahead of Sunday’s US Grand Prix, he said: ‘If it’s helped them, and they’ve used it in a way that people think they have, maybe it will shift in our direction.
“Looking at gaps in qualifying that are just hundredths of a second, you could say it helped them.
Lando Norris has been cheered by a controversial Red Bull device banned by the FIA
The Briton is only 52 points behind classification leader and current champion Max Verstappen
‘It’s good that the FIA is doing something like this. There is a difference between these kinds of black and white things and Formula 1 that pushes the boundaries and innovates. That is what we have done very good work at at McLaren.’
Cars perform better lower in qualifying and higher in races.
Formula 1 will now scrap a bonus point for the fastest lap from next year.