BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson answers your questions following the United States Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen extended his championship lead over Lando Norris by winning the sprint race before finishing ahead of the Briton in Sunday's United States Grand Prix.
Lando Norris attempted to pass Max Verstappen around the outside of Turn 12. Both cars ended up running off the track. Norris got ahead and stayed there for the rest of the race. He was penalised five seconds for gaining an advantage by going off track, demoting him back behind Verstappen. Verstappen definitely did do this. The question is whether he was entitled to. The stewards decided he was, because Norris was "not level with" Verstappen at the apex and therefore had "lost the right" to the corner.
"If I was a journalist, I would have done a bit of statistics how many times Max has used this way for defending." And the question that arises from that is whether Verstappen drove as the guidelines demand, in a "safe and controlled manner at all times", "forced the other driver off track" and was as a consequence "able to make the corner within track limits".
However, it is easy to see why some have questioned the lack of consistency between the two incidents - and indeed with that at Las Vegas in 2023, when Verstappen was penalised for forcing another driver off the track at the first corner, in that case Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.
Many circuits these days - and Austin is one - have to balance what F1 would like in an ideal situation with their wider requirements. As Max Verstappen said after the race on this matter: ", especially on the second lap,” he said."When we are in the window, we are there,” Russell said on Sunday. “And when we're not, it bites. It happened with me yesterday and you saw it with Lewis today. He never makes mistakes and the car just goes on us from nowhere.”
Hamilton's suspicion was that the incidents were caused by the upgrade Mercedes introduced in Austin - and this feeling was enhanced when Russell drove a strong race, from the pit lane to sixth, after being forced to use an older-spec car following his crash because there were not enough spare parts of the newer one.
Ferrari were very encouraged by their performance in Austin. They have been very strong since they put a new floor and other new parts on their car at the Italian Grand Prix.
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