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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella accused the Formula 1 stewards of inappropriately "interfering with a beautiful piece of motorsport" - but it's the misguided racing rules that blemished Max Verstappen's and Lando Norris's brilliant fight in the United States Grand Prix.
Norris was handed a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when he went around the outside of Verstappen at the Turn 12 left-hander at the end of the back straight in the closing stages of the Austin race.
That cost Norris a podium to his F1 title rival Verstappen and left McLaren furious after the race.
"My view is that the way the stewards interfered with a beautiful piece of motorsport was inappropriate because both cars went off track," Stella told Sky Sports F1.
"Both cars gained an advantage. It's a shame because it cost us a podium, cost us [in] a race where we stayed patient after we were pushed off at the first lap, first corner. We accepted it.
"Having said very clearly our position, this kind of decision by the stewards cannot be appealed. For us the chapter is now closed."
Stella said McLaren didn't instruct Norris to hand back the place to avoid a penalty because "there was no doubt the move was correct".
"When I saw there was an 'under investigation', I was pretty sure that was because Max pushed Lando off the track," Stella added in his media session later.
"In fact we told Oscar immediately 'make sure you close to five seconds of Max because there could be a position at stake'.
"So the interpretation of this situation between McLaren and the stewards is polar opposite.
"I'm surprised that the stewards didn't even feel the need to discuss with the drivers after the race. It's an uncertain situation, get the opinion of the drivers. Get the time to assess the situation with the level of detail that are required when the situation is not so clear.
"So where is the urgency to interfere with the result of the race with a championship course, just because you have to make the decision in 60 seconds.
"It's a question mark that I think the stewards should take constructively, and positively. Is it really needed to take a decision so quickly and in our opinion, so wrongly?"
Stella said he respected the difficulties the stewards face, but said they need to "respect their jobs" by taking more time to consider these decisions.
Norris wasn't impressed either. He said he needed to review the incident again properly after the race but giving his initial take he said he didn't know "what [else] I'm going to do".
"He [Verstappen] defends by going off the track, he overtakes by going off track, but I’m not going to complain about it," said Norris.
"Max drove well, he defended well, we had a good race together, but the rules are the rules."
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner called it "hard racing" that was in the rules and Verstappen agreed: "It's quite clear you can't overtake outside the white line."
Both Horner and Verstappen cited Verstappen losing a podium at the 2017 US GP to Kimi Raikkonen for a penalty earned when he passed Raikkonen off-track on the inside of Turn 16.
Horner also suggested he'd have told Norris to give the position back if he was in McLaren’s position.
F1 is tying itself in knots with racing rules
Ben Anderson
The first lap, Turn 1 incident was a case of Norris just leaving a gap that he shouldn't have left. Verstappen never needs an invitation to try an aggressive move!
You can certainly argue, as McLaren did, that Verstappen ran too wide in making the move - barely staying on track. You are meant to leave the car you're overtaking enough space, so we can only assume this incident - which wasn't even noted, let alone investigated - was considered standard first lap 'let them race' chaos.
Under the current guidelines, Verstappen should have been penalised and probably would have had that happened on any other lap.
The problem with the later Turn 12 move by Norris on Verstappen is that Norris wasn't far enough alongside the Red Bull by the time they reached the middle of the corner. The rules now say, if you’re overtaking on the outside, being anything less than level with the other car's front axle at the apex is not enough to demand to be given space.
The extra complication is that Verstappen clearly knows this and has most likely come off the brakes to make sure the McLaren wouldn't be far enough ahead at the crucial moment.
So he's effectively forced Norris into a position where he has to concede the corner. Norris didn't, hung on around the outside and overtook off track. That was always going to mean a penalty.
Yes, Verstappen ran wide too - but as the defensive car in that scenario, he was effectively protected by the current racing guidelines. Had he been overtaking Norris on the inside there, he would have been the one penalised with that scenario playing out exactly the same way.
Norris should have conceded the place but he also shouldn't have been put in that position by what Verstappen did at the apex.
This is what happens when the art of racing is reduced to driving to guidelines. It’s stupid. They overly protect drivers being overtaken on their outside, and overly protect drivers being overtaken on the inside if they just desperately hang on around the outside of the corner and run off track - except, that is, on lap one!
In the ever-urgent push for dreaded consistency, F1 has tied itself in knots which desperately need untangling.
