McLaren again makes claims about the yellow flag that ruined Norris’ race

Did the 2024 Qatar GP set a new precedent for penalties in Formula 1? McLaren team boss Andrea Stella hopes not, as he foresees a future in which the FIA ​​spirals “out of control”.

Speaking to media outlets, including PlanetF1.com, after the dramatic event, Stella called on race officials to be more careful when imposing penalties and to better adhere to the principles of “proportion” and “specificity.”

Andrea Stella questions the penalties for the Qatar GP

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

During the Qatar GP, race management handed out a series of penalties to drivers that F1TV presenter Laura Winter said left her “stunned”. Between runs and time penalties, McLaren driver Lando Norris may have had to deal with the worst of all.

After failing to slow down for a yellow flag, he was given a 10-second stop-and-go penalty – one of the harshest penalties available in racing.

Norris himself did not deny that he had not slowed under yellow – which was discarded, redacted and discarded again by race control after it became clear that a loose mirror from a Williams had landed in the middle of the first straight. McLaren has also said it does not intend to lodge an appeal that would change the race result.

But that doesn’t mean that team boss Andrea Stella isn’t at a loss.

After Stella admitted to checking the data and determining that Norris had indeed driven through the yellow zone at high speed, she stated that a penalty was deserved. But it raised the big question of whether or not the punishment fit the crime.

He identified two “important requirements” that should play a role in imposing a sentence: proportionality and concreteness.

“I think both conditions are missing when imposing the sentence,” he told gathered media, including PlanetF1.com.

Understanding the rules of engagement in Formula 1:

👉 F1 overtaking rules explained: What are the rules of engagement in F1 2024?

👉Explained: Formula 1’s track limitation rules and how the FIA ​​enforces them

“The peculiarity has to do with which case we are actually considering?” asked Stella rhetorically.

“Is there any immediate danger to anyone? Is there an accident scene? The specificity of the incident in which the violation was committed – the specificity leads to the relationship.”

Stella pointed out that a punishment must be proportionate to the violation, but in Norris’s case he believes things are disproportionate. Above all, he pointed out that even the FIA ​​​​is not clear about the need for a yellow flag.

“It is interesting that the FIA ​​itself kept showing the yellow flag, and at some point the yellow flag was even removed, which from a concrete point of view gives an idea of ​​how serious the situation is,” he said.

“So I think I acknowledge here that Lando has not slowed down when reviewing the data, but the lack of any specificity and proportion is very concerning and is also a factor that could have a decisive impact on the pursuit of the championship .”

The penalty certainly had an impact on McLaren’s pursuit of the constructors’ championship this weekend; Norris was sitting in second place, hoping for an opportunity to fight for the lead, when he was told to sit his penalty.

This caused him to fall to the end of the field; At the checkered flag he was able to fight his way up to 10th and score a single point, but McLaren is in the middle of a heated battle with Ferrari heading to Abu Dhabi.

“This is definitely an issue that the FIA ​​​​should take very seriously if we want fairness to be part of racing in Formula 1,” said Stella.

“We need to ensure that the company is run in a way that ensures some fundamental elements of proportionality and specificity when imposing a penalty. Otherwise, the consequences could spiral out of control.”

Therefore, Stella is calling for an FIA review of the Qatar GP – not in the hope of overturning Norris’ penalty, but in the hope of getting more clarity from the FIA ​​about how it reached its conclusions. He called it “a review that puts the sport in a better light.”

“I’m thinking about the future of Formula 1, not this event specifically,” Stella continued.

The FIA ​​has now announced that it is planning a debriefing with race management to provide clarity on the penalties in Qatar; It remains to be seen how this process will affect the finale of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Read more: How a chaotic Qatar GP is a symbol of much deeper unrest in the FIA