F1 News: Lando Norris On FIA's Soft Impeding Punishment To Max Verstappen "No One Seems To Care"

Lando Norris believes Max Verstappen should've received greater punishment.

McLaren driver Lando Norris has hit out against the FIA for a soft approach to Max Verstappen's impeding runs after he was handed out two reprimands during the Singapore GP. A fine of €5000 was also handed out to Red Bull but as per Lando, that doesn't serve any purpose. 

Verstappen had a challenging time with his RB19 in Singapore. He was also called to the stewards after Saturday's qualifying to discuss three separate impeding incidents he was a cause of- two on the track and one on the pit lane. 

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One of the reprimands was for blocking Yuki Tsunoda in Qualifying 2 and the other one was for delaying his exit from the end of the pit lane in Qualifying 1. Verstappen admitted that the incident involving Tsunoda was the result of poor communication on his team's part about the oncoming AlphaTauri F1 car. 

However, Norris feels that Verstappen got away lightly, especially with the incident involving Tsunoda. Calling for more severe regulations for impeding other drivers in qualifying, he told Sky Sports in today's press conference:

"I don't want to say too much as I'll just create controversy. I think the blocking one on track was the one that should have been a penalty.

"He blocked someone. It's not just down to the team. I know the team got fined in the end of the day but it should be down to the driver as well to look in his mirrors and see if someone else is behind.

"You've got nothing else to do the whole lap, you've got to look in your mirrors, and it seems like a lot of people struggle to do that. It should just be harsher penalties for blocking people because so many people do it. It ruins your lap, it ruins your qualifying. It put Yuki out in qualifying. He was P1 in Q1 and probably would have been P1 in Q3…all the way!

"Just no one seems to care enough."

The British-Belgian driver seemed quite put out with the rise in impeding incidents this season, claiming that drivers need to take more responsibility. He added:

"It's happened a lot this season, it's happened to me quite a few times, especially with certain teams.

"But it's also up to the driver to look in the mirror. You've got nothing else to do [on an out lap] but hit the recharge button and look in your mirror and people seem to struggle to be able to do that in Formula 1. It's just a surprise."

Funnily, sitting beside Tsunoda in the press conference, Norris told the AlphaTauri driver:

"I'll probably block someone else, Yuki, and make myself look stupid…"