Frustrated Norris says penalty cost him P2 after ‘stupid’ Perez move

Norris and Perez were battling for second place following an early Safety Car restart when the Red Bull driver was squeezed out wide into the gravel having attempted a move around the outside of Norris at Turn 4.

With Perez losing ground and dropping to 10th, the stewards handed Norris a five-second time penalty for forcing the Mexican wide, a decision which left the McLaren driver baffled.

“I’m disappointed because it should’ve been second place,” he said. “I thought that lap one was just racing really.

“He tried to go around the outside, which was a bit stupid, and he just ran off the track himself, I didn’t even push him.

“I’m frustrated but I’m also happy with P3. We had very good pace.”

Despite the penalty - which Norris served during his pit stop - the Briton fought back to claim his third podium of the season having re-passed a struggling Lewis Hamilton with a stunning late lunge into Turn 6.

Norris chased down Valtteri Bottas for second place but ultimately fell just shy of the Mercedes driver as he completed the podium in third.

Without his penalty, Norris believes second and a best-ever finish in F1 was up for grabs.

“We had good pace and I could keep up with him a lot, even in dirty air, but not enough to get into the DRS,” he explained.

“As soon as I got within or close to a second, I started struggling too much. Shoulda, woulda, coulda in the end.

“It’s nice to know that we can be there and we can race them, it was the first race in many years of actually racing the Mercedes and the Red Bulls.

“Hopefully we can keep it up next time.”

Norris was also handed two penalty points on his licence for the incident, moving him onto 10 for the current 12-month period. 

The Briton is two penalty points shy of a race ban, however two points will expire before the next round of the championship at the British Grand Prix.