He would then go on to compare two similar incidents that had very different outcomes, one of which involved McLaren's Lando Norris.
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After last season’s championship race was decided in controversial circumstances, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has called on the FIA to conduct a full review of its laws surrounding on-track accidents. He would then go on to compare two similar incidents that had very different outcomes, involving McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
“I think everyone was pretty confused; obviously, there were winners and losers in it. It’s tough being a referee in any sport because half of the fans are going to agree with your call, half of them aren’t. It seemed to deviate from what’s happened in the past. I think if you look to Baku they red-flagged it right away. It didn’t really change the outcome for us but I think in the off-season we need to review a lot of our regulations,” the McLaren boss said.
The first incident he mentioned occurred at the Styrian Grand Prix, when his driver Lando Norris was found guilty of shoving Sergio Perez off the track and into the gravel. Brown compared this altercation to the one that occurred in Brazil between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Both vehicles left the track and went into the runoff area in this incident, however the stewards gave no penalty.
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“If I pull back, I think there’s too much inconsistency in regulations and how they’re applied and when they’re applied, driver penalties. You look at Lando (Norris) who doesn’t touch (Sergio) Perez on the first lap in Austria, he tries him round the outside and he gets a five-second penalty and two penalty points. Then you have Max (Verstappen) and Lewis (Hamilton) who both go off track (in Brazil) and ‘Let them race’. I think we all have those stories, and it’s difficult when it’s subjective, but I think we need to take a step back,” he said.
“There were enough people disgruntled throughout the year that we need to look at the rules. And keep in mind that it’s the teams who make most of these rules. So as you’ve heard me bang on about, I’d continue to like to see less influence from the teams, because we’re the ones who developed half of these rules,” Brown added.
