2024 Austrian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen was annoyed about his strategy post-race, annoyed about the sticking left-rear wheel at his final stop which cost him 4sec and allowed Lando Norris’s McLaren within striking range. Without that, Norris wouldn’t have got close enough to attack Verstappen. Without the need to repel Norris, they wouldn’t have clashed and punctured each other’s tyres, handing the victory to George Russell’s Mercedes. He even said he was more annoyed about the strategy than he was about the incident with Norris.

That definitely did not apply to Norris, who put the blame firmly in Max’s court. It was difficult to disagree. The puncturing incident came as Verstappen swooped left to squeeze Norris on the approach to Turn 3 until the McLaren had no more road left. Verstappen received a 10sec penalty for it. But even before then he’d incurred Norris’s wrath by hovering around in the middle of the track in the braking zone and only taking up a line to block whenever Norris made a move.

Norris had received a 5sec penalty himself for exceeding track limits three times, but the third time was because he’d ran wide trying a late-dive pass and had rejoined back behind. The regulation doesn’t fit the situation.