"He had about four strikes in one lap!": Lando Norris' cheeky dig at Lewis Hamilton's track limits penalty complaints

Lando Norris thinks that Lewis Hamilton's five-second penalty early in the race was justified as he went off four times in one lap.

The McLaren driver was chasing the seven-time world champion from lap one after he was overtaken off the line by the latter. In a race filled with penalties because of track limits, the Mercedes driver got his pretty early on.

While appearing on the F1 post-race Show, Lando Norris claimed that while he was behind his fellow Brit, he saw Hamilton going off the while line four times in one lap. He said:

“Yeah, I was going to do a live commentary at every corner, pretty much. He only got a five-second penalty? It should be way more! He had about four strikes in one lap!”

He further added:

“It’s nothing to do with tire saving or anything. People on the outside, complain, they don’t understand how difficult it is to stay within the track limits. Yes, I guess you can say I did and ‘Why can’t anyone else do it?’ but it depends on what position you’re in.

"If Fernando was behind me the last 5/10 laps, I can assure you that I’d have done track limits at least once and then I probably would have got a penalty. It just depends if you’re under pressure. When you’re under pressure, you’re pushing a little bit more, you have a little bit more of a slide."

Lando Norris gives his say on the track limit debate

The McLaren driver was one of the few drivers to not get penalized for track limits throughout the race. He stated that it was a human error and is a part of racing.

Lando Norris said:

“But that’s just like human error, but it’s also like that’s racing at the end of the day. It feels tough for some of the things that you feel like you shouldn’t be penalized for but, when it’s a rule, then it’s also a rule for everyone. So I guess that I didn’t.

“If you struggle, then you’ve just got to slow down. But you never want to do that when you’re a driver. So yeah, it’s complicated. It’s just not as easy as what it looks like on the outside. I can assure everyone of that so I don’t have sympathy for the people that did get it, in a way, but I also don’t!”

It will be interesting to see if other drivers on the grid agree with Lando Norris on the track limits debate.