Daniel Ricciardo call vindicated as Lando Norris 'robbed' of podium finish at US Grand Prix

Red Bull's decision to axe Daniel Ricciardo for Liam Lawson has paid off immediately as the young Kiwi put in a strong showing in his first race as a full-time driver at the US Grand Prix. Lawson's debut in the sport began on a far-from-ideal note with a 60-place grid penalty at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA).

It meant his car essentially started the Grand Prix in Austin from the back of the grid due to it taking additional power unit elements. But by the end of Sunday's race, (Monday morning AEDT) Red Bull would have felt vindicated for axing Ricciardo mid-season as the 22-year-old picked off the field one by one, gaining ten places to finish 9th.

Lawson finished five spots ahead of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, showing why Red Bull was desperate to hang onto the young New Zealander. He leaves Austin managing to gain 10 positions and receiving 2 points in the driver standings. While Charles Leclerc took the honours at the US GP thanks to a sensational start, ahead of Carlos Sainz in a Ferrari one-two. Max Verstappen took third due to a late five-second penalty for title rival Lando Norris.

Lando Norris 'robbed' of podium finish by questionable penalty

But Norris will leave Austin feeling hard done by in what was a difficult outing for the Brit. After starting in pole position, he slipped down the order after a sluggish start but managed to claw his way back into a podium position and pass triple world champion Verstappen with five laps left.

However, in the overtaking move, Norris was forced wide and had to pass on the outside of the track. Immediately the Brit asked his team whether he should hand the position back to Verstappen, but they urged him not to, believing that their man was ahead at the apex of the corner. But the stewards took a different view, handing Norris a five-second penalty that saw him drop to fourth despite crossing the line in third.

It was a brutal call that didn't go down well with much of the F1 community due to the fact Verstappen went off the track in an attempt to hold off Norris. And earlier on the opening lap he also pushed Norris wide in a bid to overtake the McLaren driver.

Following the lap one manoeuvre, Norris immediately protested saying to his team: "He clearly pushed me off! He had no intent on making the corner. He had to go off the track as well. I had to avoid crashing into him and him into in me. He went in so hard he went off the track, same as Budapest, it was identical."

But Verstappen went unpunished both times, while Norris copped a five-second penalty relegating him to third, much to the dismay of the McLaren driver. "He (Verstappen) defends by going off track and overtakes by going off track," Norris said after the race. "He also went off the track so he was obviously going in too hard and so he also gained an advantage then but I don't make the rules."

While Verstappen said: "It was a tough battle, to be on the podium is a good result. I have my opinion but I don’t need to say it here, I’ll let the stewards do their thing." But many F1 fans were fuming at the decision, feeling Norris was 'robbed' of a podium finish.

Verstappen being promoted third means he extends his lead over Norris to 57 points with Saturday's sprint race win and Sunday's result. Norris had cut the deficit from 84 to 52 points over the previous six race weekends. A total of 146 points are still on offer from the remaining five events, the fastest laps there, and two sprint races.

with AAP