Is Lando Norris in the world championship fight? The answer was delivered by Max Verstappen with his desperate lunge at Turn 8, 10 laps into the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Had it been another driver, it is fair to assume that Verstappen would not have been dazzled by red mist and made the dangerous move. He did not want Norris to win, a result that would have haemorrhaged more vital points.
It is clearly not that he has a natural hatred of the Briton that compels him to resort to any low tactic to beat him. It is that he views Norris as the one possible rival to his crown.
He showed Lewis Hamilton the same ‘respect’ when they were locked in battle three years ago, finishing with the murky controversy of Abu Dhabi after several on-track brawls.
Of course, it will be tough for Norris from 47 points back with 120 remaining.
Is Lando Norris in the world championship fight? The answer was delivered by Max Verstappen on Sunday evening with his desperate lunge at Turn 8 10 laps into the Mexico City Grand Prix
Had it been another driver, Verstappen would not have been dazzled by the red mist
Verstappen is still likely to win the world title given his 47 point lead, but we at least have a race
Chipping away at the deficit is unlikely to garner him enough plunder in four races, starting in Brazil on Sunday, and two sprints, to prevail. He probably needs a DNF to befall Verstappen, but the cliff is not insurmountable.
As recently as 2007, Kimi Raikonnen successfully came from 17 points adrift – the equivalent of 43 under the current scoring system – in the space of two races.
But the odds, it must be said, are stacked heavily in Verstappen’s favour.
The most pertinent question is how they will each go racing from now on. Each driver believes he is largely in the right as they lock horns. The urge in Britain is to back Norris and to paint Verstappen as a Schumacher-esque villain.
It is more complex than that, it being Formula One. The fact is that the rules – or guidelines, actually – are too rigid. In trying to proscribe certain methods of overtaking, they allow loopholes to be exploited.
There is little room for interpretation. The stewards cannot infer intent based on the evidence of their own eyes in each inevitably nuancedly different set of circumstances.
That intuitive judgment is what the guidelines are intended to do away with. But look where that has got us.
The car that reaches the apex ahead is favoured, almost exempt from censure. That is why Verstappen was not penalised in Austin when the pair clashed at Turn 12.
He showed Lewis Hamilton the same ‘respect’ when they were locked in battle three years ago
The urge in Britain is to back Norris and to paint Verstappen as a Schumacher-esque villain
Instead, Norris was handed a five-second penalty for overtaking off the circuit, having been left (or having not left himself) with anywhere legal to go.
It is also why Verstappen was penalised for the Turn 4 incident on Sunday, when Norris arrived at the apex ahead.
As for the Turn 8 fracas, Verstappen acted as a hoodlum in desperation. There is no arguing against the second of his 10-second penalties. Nobody sane – including the offender himself or his Red Bull boss Christian Horner – denies that.
What Horner did contest, however, was the Turn 4 incident, a few corners earlier on that eventful lap 10.
He turned up in Mexico for his post-race media briefing with GPS traces on a piece of A4, illustrating how the McLaren man braked later at that corner in the lap in question than on his fastest lap.
He argued that Norris was gaming the system, albeit playing to the guidelines.
He said that Norris, on the outside, did everything he could to get to the apex first even though he knew he would never be able to round the corner. Officially, right would be on his side.
‘It used to be a reward of the bravest to go round the outside,’ said Horner.
‘We are in danger of flipping the overtaking laws upside down, where drivers will just try to get their nose ahead at the apex and then claim that they must be given room on the exit.’
Nobody sane – including Verstappen or Red Bull Christian Horner – denies the second penalty
McLaren boss Andrea Stella said: ‘Lando we like, approve and confirm the way you go racing’
Norris, who finished second to Verstappen’s sixth, was praised by his McLaren boss Andrea Stella. ‘Our conversation and internal reviews have always been very clear: Lando we like, approve and confirm the way you go racing,’ said the Italian.
‘It is not for you to find justice yourself. That is where the stewarding will say whether manoeuvres are fair or not.
‘Don’t be desperate, you don’t have to prove anything.’