McLaren criticise ‘dust-covered book’ decision in Norris penalty call

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has suggested Lando Norris' penalty in Qatar was applied with a too simplistic judgement using a “dust-covered book”.

Norris was issued a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for not slowing when passing through double-waved yellow flags along the start-finish straight.

The flags were deployed due to a wing mirror that was deposited on the straight, but off the racing line.

Norris recovered to 10th place with the fastest lap after dropping to the back of the field when he served his penalty.

Stella has conceded the data confirmed Norris failed to back off when driving the yellow flags and that a penalty was deserved.

“We checked all the data,” Stella told media including RacingNews365. 

“Lando enters the sector when the yellow flag is displayed. But fair enough, the requirement is very clear. 

“When there's a yellow sector, you are required to slow down, and this is the responsibility of the driver. So I think the penalty was deserved in that case.”

However, Stella highlighted there was no immediate danger on the track as no car had come to a stop.

The Italian engineer asserted the FIA did not give consideration to the severity of the circumstance when judging Norris' actions.

“Giving a penalty, it’s two important concepts - one is proportion, and the second one is specificity,” he said. “The application of the penalty lacks both requirements.

"Is there an immediate danger for somebody? Is there a crash scene? The specificity leads to the proportion.

“The penalty needs to be commensurate, it needs to be proportioned to the severity of the infringement. It’s interesting the FIA themselves were going on and off with the yellow flag, and at some stage, the yellow flag was even removed. 

“It gives a sense from a specificity point of view, how severe is the situation? So I think I'm here acknowledging that checking the data, Lando did not slow down.

“But the lack of any specificity and proportion is very concerning and is also a factor that could have a decisive impact on the championship quest.

"It's definitely material that the FIA needs to start looking at very carefully if we want fairness. It is an important business. 

“To me, it looks like somewhere there must be a book with a lot of dust on the cover that was taken out. ‘Let me see what it says, and I apply this'. This seems a little too simplistic.”