Norris hits out at F1 stewards for “unfair” Azerbaijan GP grid drop

Norris will be pushed three places back on the grid after he was deemed to have not followed the correct procedure under the red flag in Q1, meaning he will start Sunday’s Azerbaijan GP from ninth place.

Norris was also handed three points on his license, bringing his total up to eight - with 12 being the amount that results in a race ban.

“It is not my place to comment because it is the rule,” Norris said. “For certain situations they should think about what it is like to be in the driver’s seat for a second. And what you have to react to, and the speed you are doing, and the time you have to react to things and so on. I think a reprimand is the right thing to do.

“But to have a bit more understanding in some areas and to be able to over decide the actual ruling itself. And have a bit of a rethink on what is really fair for the driver or the team for what went wrong. I did not put anyone in harm’s way. If anything I took the safer option out of boxing or not boxing.”

Norris labelled the verdict as "a bad decision or just an unfair penalty".

“I do not deserve three points on my license, because I did not do anything dangerous,” Norris added. “I did not do anything like because I did not know, or I was clueless or anything. It was nothing to do with that. I know what the rules are and so on. It is not like I have a lack of understanding or anything like that.

“For some situations they should rethink what is going on. Had the driver done something wrong? And so on. Not in this situation, but can you put the team to blame and things like that. It should not ruin my race for having to make this kind of decision. It should not ruin my Sunday for such a thing.

“In my opinion, it is a bad decision or just an unfair penalty. An unfair ruling. It is the way it is and I cannot do anything about it.”

McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo is set to start the race from 13th after crashing in Q2.