Lando Norris revealed he mistakenly thought the stewards would rule in his favour after Lewis Hamilton went off the track as the pair battled for position.
Hamilton stayed ahead of Norris by going off the track at turn one as they pair fought for position.Norris, who lost a position to Andrea Kimi Antonelli due to the time he lost fighting Hamilton, said afterwards he thought the Ferrari driver would have to let him overtake as a result.
“I would have passed him at some point,” Norris told Sky after the race. “I just didn’t need to try and overtake him where I did.
“I braked a bit late and could have still put a good move in and he would have had to let me past because he braked way too late.”
However the stewards cleared Hamilton of “leaving the track and gaining an advantage” after the race. They noted Norris also went off the track at the same moment, meaning Hamilton was not required to let him overtake.
“Car 44 [Hamilton] left the track in turn one while the driver was defending his position to car one [Norris],” they noted. “However, the overtaking attempt by car one was not a legitimate one as car one also left the track at the same point.
“Therefore the Stewards determine that both cars rejoined the track in the correct order. Having done so, both car 44 and car one lost their positions to car 12 [Antonelli] which was behind them when they left the track. Given all that, the stewards determine that no further action is warranted in this case.”
Norris, who tangled with his team mate Oscar Piastri while trying to overtake him during the sprint race on Saturday, said it was “not a good weekend for me in terms of making decisions like that.”
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