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Topics: Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Formula 1, Fan Reactions
Ryan Smart
Topics: Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Formula 1, Fan Reactions
Max Verstappen's actions before the Bahrain Grand Prix started spoke volumes after rival Lando Norris received a time penalty.
Norris qualified sixth, one position ahead of Verstappen in Sakhir.
The Brit moved up to third place on the first lap, however, and begun to challenge second-placed George Russell.
But he was given a five-second time penalty by the FIA stewards, to be served at his next pit stop, for a race start infringement.
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Norris' front tyres were positioned beyond his grid box, a violation of the FIA regulations.
But perhaps unsurprisingly, it was Verstappen who spotted the infringement first.
The Dutchman, who was looking towards Norris' grid box as he stopped, told race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase: "Lando's out of his grid box."
Reacting to the clip on Twitter, one fan wrote: "Max snitching Lando for his grid position."
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A second said: "Of course it's Max telling on Lando for being out of his grid box..."
A third added: "How does Max even see that Lando is over his grid box??? That guy BREATHES racing."
And a fourth joked: "Max with his finest George Russell impression."
The five-second time penalty - which some suggested was too lenient - didn't have a significant impact on Norris as he remained in third place after the pit stop phase.
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Verstappen, meanwhile, overtook Carlos Sainz early in the race for seventh but had a slow pit stop before then struggling on his hard tyres in the second stint.
He was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton - who pitted for a second set of mediums - on lap 22, with the Dutchman able to do little in the way of defence as he slipped to ninth place.
He repeatedly complained of brake and tyre issues over team radio, with the brake problem appearing to be similar to the one which affected him in qualifying on Sunday.
Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend but has struggled for pace thus far in what has been a much more disappointing weekend in Bahrain.