Lando Norris was on Thursday night handed a potential boost in his world championship mission after the FIA forced his rival Max Verstappen’s Red Bull team to modify their car.

The intrigue centres on a controversial device that allows Red Bull to alter their ride height between qualifying and the race. The rules do not allow changes post-qualifying when cars are under parc ferme conditions.

A senior Red Bull team representative admitted: ‘Yes, it (the device) exists although it is inaccessible once the car is fully assembled and ready to run. In the correspondence we have with the FIA, this part came up and we have agreed a plan going forward.’

Norris, who won the last race in Singapore to narrow his deficit to Verstappen to 52 points with six rounds left, welcomed the news. Speaking ahead of Sunday’s US Grand Prix, he said: ‘If it has been helping them, and they have been using it in a way people think they have, maybe it will shift in our direction.

‘When we look at gaps in qualifying that have been just hundredths of a second, you might say it has helped them.

‘It is good the FIA are doing such a thing. There is a difference between black-and-white stuff like this and Formula One pushing the boundaries and innovating. That is what we at McLaren have done a very good job at.’

Cars run better lower in qualifying and higher in races. 

Formula One, meanwhile, will do away with a bonus point for the fastest lap from next year.