Marc Priestley says Lando Norris ‘wasn’t prepared’ after making Sao Paulo Grand Prix error

Follow us on Google Discover

Lando Norris was at the centre of controversy before the Sao Paulo Grand Prix has even begun when he made an error during the start phase.

During the formation lap to the grid, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll spun off the track at Descida do Lago after locking up his rear tyres.

In an attempt to get his car back on track, he went through the gravel trap and beached his Aston Martin. The incident caused further delays to the start procedure, with Race Control electing to abandon the start until his car was recovered.

When the message came through on the timing screen, Norris left his grid slot along with George Russell, Liam Lawson, and Yuki Tsunoda.

All four drivers were noted for a start infringement by the stewards, however, former F1 mechanic Marc Priestly believes it was simply a case of brain fade from Norris when discussing it on his YouTube channel.

Lando Norris start error down to lack of understanding of regulations

Norris had pulled away from his grid box and effectively generated another formation lap, leading a lot of other teams to be confused over what was happening.

Eventually everyone else followed Norris and Russell, but it was clear a procedure had been breached by the Briton. Priestley believes Norris was simply unfamiliar with the abandoned start rules and likely thought it was going to be restarted with the extra formation lap.

“Lando wasn’t prepared in the right way. With an abandoned start, drivers should stay on the grid until they do the start procedure again,” said Priestley.

“They will then do another formation lap. Lando left the grid and others followed. Effectively, in my mind, it comes down to a lack of preparation or understanding of the regulations.”

Lando Norris fined for race start procedure breach

The stewards would later investigate Norris after the race for the breach of the sporting regulations, which state that drivers must stay on the grid when the ‘Abandoned Start’ panel is displayed by Race Control.

As it was the first time this breach had occurred, Norris was only handed a €5,000 (£4,200) fine for the offence along with George Russell.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

In their decision document, the stewards stated that Norris had “precipitated the action of the drivers on the grid directly behind him” which forced them into completing another formation lap.

Norris and Russell were also handed driving reprimands for the offence, with drivers only allowed to accrue 12 of these in a season before they are handed a grid penalty.