Lando Norris felt US Grand Prix stewards were “rushed” to make a decision over his off-track pass to Formula One title rival Max Verstappen, saying the result was “guessed” without the driver’s input.

Norris was penalized by five seconds for a pass on Max Verstappen at Turn 12, which was made while both drivers were off the road and failed to create enough of an advantage to negate the effect of the time deduction that had been awarded. only on the last lap.

This gave Verstappen third place in the final race results, increasing his lead over Norris to 57 points with five rounds remaining.

Speaking about the process through which the stewards reached their conclusion, Norris felt the decision showed “inconsistency” with the decisions of others and that input from the riders was required to fully evaluate the situation.

“I think there’s inconsistency again, but it’s difficult. To me it’s just a rushed decision and they don’t hear or understand our points about what they should do after the race,” Norris explained.

“They just want to make a decision in the moment so you don’t change perspectives, but so it’s a rushed decision and they don’t hear my point of view, my team’s point of view or Max’s point of view.

“I don’t think it’s probably the right thing to do, but today it was a penalty and there’s not much I can do other than just accept it. I tried, we both tried, it was a great fight.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38 battles Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“I really liked it. It was hard. Max rode very well and defended very well. He ended up on top, so congratulations to him.

“I don’t think you can appeal that kind of punishment, which again is stupid because they’re just guessing and I don’t think that’s the way orders should be made. But it is a difficult job for them, so I don’t complain about them.

“I think it’s more that they don’t see and understand everything as well as we do when we’re in the car. That’s all.”

Asked if Verstappen was “overdoing it” in his defence, Norris said his title rival was missing corners with a lot of speed – something he was trying to match.

He compared his pass to Verstappen’s at Turn 1, where he appeared to run Norris out of the way and maintain his position without further consequences, and questioned why the Turn 1 incidents were treated differently.

“I think Max went off the track both times. He had a lot of obligations to keep me behind.

“The thing is with Max you have to make a commitment – people don’t understand these things. With Max, you can’t just go half-hearted.

“In the first corner it’s a little harder to say whether it was because I didn’t push myself enough, but the fact is that he showed so much speed that he went off the track again.

“I can’t just dive on the inside of someone, get away and then maintain position while running normally, but for some reason it’s completely normal on the first turn of the first lap. This is a difficult moment. I don’t know. It hurts today.”