Fans can’t believe what Max Verstappen did at the start of the Bahrain GP amid Lando Norris incident
Max Verstappen’s actions before the Bahrain Grand Prix started spoke volumes after rival Lando Norris received a time penalty.
Norris qualified sixth, one position ahead of Verstappen in Sakhir.
The Brit moved up to third place on the first lap, however, and begun to challenge second-placed George Russell.
But he was given a five-second time penalty by the FIA stewards, to be served at his next pit stop, for a race start infringement.
Norris’ front tyres were positioned beyond his grid box, a violation of the FIA regulations.
But perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Verstappen who spotted the infringement first.
The Dutchman, who was looking towards Norris’ grid box as he stopped, told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase: “Lando’s out of his grid box.”
Reacting to the clip on Twitter, one fan wrote: “Max snitching Lando for his grid position.”
A second said: “Of course it’s Max telling on Lando for being out of his grid box…”
A third added: “How does Max even see that Lando is over his grid box??? That guy BREATHES racing.”
And a fourth joked: “Max with his finest George Russell impression.”
The five-second time penalty – which some suggested was too lenient – didn’t have a significant impact on Norris as he remained in third place after the pit stop phase.
Verstappen moved past Carlos Sainz near the race start to claim seventh position but his slow pit stop left him using hard tires which affected his performance in the next stint.
The second round pit stop by Lewis Hamilton in the latest round enabled him to pass Verstappen at the 22nd lap which caused the Dutchman’s drop to ninth position.
He persistently communicated transmission problems and tire difficulties throughout his team communication. These problems where present again just like during his Sunday qualifying session.
Winning the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend did not translate into strong racing speed during what turned out to be Bahrain’s more unfortunate festival for him.
