McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl has admitted that there is a “fundamental risk” of Lando Norris receiving a one-race ban, as he is just two penalty points away from being awarded such a penalty.
The young British talent has been in exceptional form this season, with him already scoring three podiums thus far this campaign.
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However, he received an additional two penalty points on his Super Licence for forcing Sergio Perez off the track during the Austrian Grand Prix, bringing his 12-month rolling total up to 10.
This will go down to eight penalty points after the British Grand Prix, but he will nevertheless still be just four points away from an automatic one-race ban.
Commenting on this, Seidl said the situation is not “reassuring” and he took the opportunity to criticise the stewards for penalising Norris for his defensive move on Perez last weekend.
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“It is not reassuring. There is a fundamental risk,” Seidl told Germany’s RTL broadcaster.
“I think we all agree that in an incident like with Checo it is not in the interests of Formula 1 and sport if a driver is suspended for a race because of such an incident.
“We will discuss that in the next meetings with teams and Formula 1, and drivers will also bring it up safely.”
Following the incident, which resulted in Perez losing several places, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said he believes it was a racing incident and suggested a penalty wasn’t required.
Seidl also revealed that Stoffel Vandoorne, who previously raced with McLaren in Formula 1, is the team’s “first choice” to fill in for Norris in the event of him being handed a race ban.
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