Immediately after the start of the 2024 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, many observers, including some rival drivers, believed that Lando Norris had committed a ‘jump start’. From their vantage point, and as we soon see, Norris moved five lights out and before the race officially started. If the violation had been discovered, a penalty would have been imposed.
But the really important observers saw it differently.
This is the moment in question. Just before lights out for the start of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Norris and his MCL38 can be seen moving forward. However, the McLaren driver managed to stop his car before starting the race.
Among those who sounded the alarm was Mercedes driver George Russell, who had started on the row behind Norris.
Race officials said the incident had been investigated shortly after the start of the race, but stewards ultimately ruled that Norris had not breached Article 48.1 of the F1 Sporting Regulations, which governs false starting positions. It is said that it has come down.
Article 48.1(a) of the Sporting Regulations states that a driver will be penalized if:[m]This will be done before the start signal is given, and such decisions will be made by FIA-approved and supplied transponders fitted to each car…”
Race officials say that while our eyes showed that Article 1 had been violated by Norris, the transponder was telling us otherwise.
Stewards, who released a detailed report after the race, said Norris was not in violation because his transponder did not signal a false start. “Stewards have considered the positioning/marshalling system data and video and have determined that the video shows car No. 4 moving before the start signal. However, the FIA-approved and supplied transponder fitted to the car did not indicate a jump start.”
As officials noted in the reportthe rules require discovery from the transponder to impose such a penalty.
“Article 48.1 a) of the F1 Sporting Regulations reads: clearly The determination of whether there was a jump start would be made according to the transponder that did not indicate a jump start. In these circumstances, we took no further action. ” (emphasis added).
Norris acknowledged that he moved early, but also pointed out that he stopped midway through and was unable to take advantage of his early moves.
“I don’t know what happened, it happened so suddenly.” He said sky sports f1 After the race. “I just went for a little while, stopped again, and went again. But overall I lost and didn’t gain anything.”
On Saturday night, Norris finished in eighth place in the points, but four places behind teammate Oscar Piastri. The team attempted something of a split strategy in the race, leaving Norris on track when Lance Stroll hit the barrier and the safety car was brought out. Norris took over the lead of the race, but was forced to pit late in the race and returned in eighth place. He was unable to regain the on-track position he lost in the pits and finished there.
“Together with Lando, we decided to split our strategy as a team in the event of a safety car, so that we could potentially find ourselves in a very beneficial situation in the event of a safety car or red flag, which is not uncommon here in Saudi Arabia. It was definitely worth taking the opportunity. Unfortunately, there were no further safety cars or red flags, so Lando may have lost several positions compared to where he could have finished. Despite this, it was still a strong result and very good driving from Lando,” explained team principal Andrea Stella. Team post-race summary.
Still, Piastri’s fourth-place finish gave the team their second double-points finish in two races and kept Saudi Arabia in the race. Constructors’ 3rd placeThey are 2 points behind Mercedes and 20 points behind Ferrari.
