Perez was forced wide onto the gravel at Turn 4 as he and Norris battled over second place folloཧwing an early Safety Car restart in Sunday’s race, with the Red Bull driver dropping down to 10th place.

Norris was handed a five-second time pe♋nalty for the incident but was left baffled by the decision, which Horner also feltℱ was simply “hard racing”.

“I think I said in the commentary that I didn't have a major problem with the Lando move,𝐆” Horner told Sky F1.

“It was racing. It was hard racing. It was wheel-to-wheel, so then to get a penalജty for that, I guess🥀 they gave themselves no choice when he had the same with Charles.

“But that's racing. Otherwise, you're going to get drivers just chucking themselve♊s off the circuit and claiming penalties, so it's a bit disappointing. For me, that's hard racing.”

McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl also disagreed with the penalty, adding: “It is at the beginning of the r❀ace and, in Michael Masi’s words, he would say you learn in karting already that if you go there you will end up in the gravel.

“I think with the cars bein⛦g side by side, I don’t think that is a penalty. But it is what it is, let’s focus on the positives. It was sensational race and weekend from the team and Lando, and a sensatio🌃nal recovery from Daniel [Ricciardo]. I want to say a big thanks to everyone here at the track and at home.”

Perez later picked up two five-second time penalties for separate incidents with Charles Leclerc, havin💮g forced the Ferrari driver🐼 onto the gravel at Turn 4 and again at Turn 6 later in the race.