Max Verstappen takes sarcastic swipe at Lando Norris after stewards intervene at United States Grand Prix

But Verstappen was back on top for the sprint on Saturday with Red Bull clearly holding an advantage over the McLaren at the Circuit of the Americas track.

And it was the Dutchman who held track position over Norris for most of the race on Sunday before the McLaren driver began to close in on the final few laps.

With time running out, Norris finally got past his rival but went off the track to do so.

The stewards eventually decided to penalise Norris for the overtake by handing him a five-second penalty, which ultimately saw him finish behind Verstappen after the race.

The three-time world champion sounded exhausted after the race when speaking to his team.

But he also took a cheeky swipe at Norris for his overtake in the latter stages of the race.

"My god, that was a hard race," he said on team radio.

"I tried everything with the defending. That was fun.

"It's just a bit weird that you can overtake outside the track."

When asked on Sky Sports whether he should have given the place back to Verstappen in retrospect, Norris replied: "It’s impossible to know.

"They obviously can’t make their minds up for a few laps, so it’s obviously not an easy decision, otherwise it would have come a bit sooner.

"I tried. He also went off the track.

"So, if he goes off the track, clearly he’s gone in way too hard and also gained an advantage by doing what he did. But I don’t make the rules, so…"

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McLaren team principal Andrea Stella hit out at the stewards for getting involved in what he felt was fair racing.

He said: “My view is the way the stewards interfered with a beautiful piece of motorsport was inappropriate because both cars went off track, so both cars gained an advantage.

“It’s a shame because it cost us a podium and a race where we stayed patient after we were pushed off on the first lap and first corner. We accepted it.

“Having said that, very clearly our position, this kind of decision cannot be appealed. This chapter is now closed and we move onto the next race.”