Lewis Hamilton gets a 5-second penalty as ‘snitch’ Lando Norris rats out the Mercedes racer at dramatic Austrian GP
Lando Norris used pure tactics to make sure Lewis Hamilton suffered a disadvantage at the Austrian GP.
Follow Us
The dramatic weekend at Red Bull’s backyard came to an end with the hair-raising Austrian GP. The race proved to be so intense that it had the fans on the edge of their seats, with eyes peeled for who might take the title of the winner of RBR’s home GP. At one point in time, the hard-fought battle between the top runners seemed to be getting out of hands for Max Verstappen who has led every single lap of all the races since the Miami GP. Charles Leclerc broke the Dutchman’s streak with a brilliant performance that has all the pundits claiming that Ferrari are back in the game.
But the drama was not limited to the first few ranks on the grid only. A bit below the line came Lando Norris in his upgraded McLaren that seemed to be giving a surprisingly good speed to the Briton. And against him was none other than the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes. After a P2 finish at the Spanish GP and another podium win in Canada, Lewis was not having the best weekend in Austria since he could only achieve a fifth-place start at yesterday’s Quali.
Once the first ten or so laps were over, the contest got intense between Lando and Lewis as the two went wheel-to-wheel. But the masterstroke came from the British racer of the papaya squad as he complained to his engineer that Hamilton had gone past the track limits. This led to McLaren passing on the concerns to the stewards who ultimately ruled in favor of Lando Norris’ judgement. Thus, Lewis Hamilton came down with a 5-second time penalty because his opponent “snitched” on him.
McLaren and Lando Norris used some ingenious tactics to take Lewis Hamilton down
The track limits at the Austrian GP have been a cause for concern for several racers over the weekend. Lewis himself had complained about them and Sergio Perez had called them “a joke”. During the Main Race, Lewis got three of his lap times deleted for crossing the track limits. Then, McLarej directed their driver Lando, who was driving right behind Lewis, to report any other track limit breach the moment he saw the Silver Arrows racer make it. Lando complied, and on lap 17, Lewis landed a 5-second penalty.
With the time penalty and the relatively poor Qualifying position, Lewis Hamilton looks nowhere near to the form he had show in Barcelona and Montreal. But all is not over for the Mercedes driver as there are 14 races remaining on the F1 roster. With the advancement that Lewis had already shown this year after the first few disappointing races, it can be well predicted that he is not too far from achieving his 104th race win this year.
In case you missed it:
Stay Updated!
Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)