Did the 2024 Qatar GP set a new precedent for penalization in Formula 1? McLaren team principal Andrea Stella hopes not, because he foresees a future where the FIA goes “out of control”.

Speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, after the dramatic event, Stella cautioned race control to take better care in issuing penalties that are better guided by the principles of “proportion” and “specificity.”

Andrea Stella questions Qatar GP penalties

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

During the Qatar GP, race control levied a series of penalties against drivers that F1TV host Laura Winter said left her “flabbergasted.” Between drive-throughs and time penalties, McLaren driver Lando Norris perhaps faced the worst one of all.

After failing to slow for a yellow flag, he was hit with a 10-second stop-and-go penalty — one of the harshest in-race penalties on offer.

Norris himself did not deny that he failed to slow for the yellow — which was thrown, redacted, and thrown again by race control after it became clear that a loose mirror from a Williams had ended up in the middle of the front straight. McLaren, too, have stated that it does not intend to pursue an appeal that would change the race result.

But that doesn’t mean team principal Andrea Stella isn’t perplexed.

After admitting to checking the data to find that Norris indeed had been speeding through the yellow zone, Stella stated that a penalty was deserved. But he raised a big question about whether or not the punishment fit the crime.

He identified two “important requirements” that should come into play when issuing a penalty: Proportion and specificity.

“I think the application of the penalty lacks both requirements,” he told assembled media, including PlanetF1.com.

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“The specificity has to do with, what case are we actually considering?” Stella asked, rhetorically.

“Is there immediate danger for somebody? Is there a crash scene? The specificity of the incident in which the infringement was committed — the specificity leads into the proportion.”

Stella noted that a penalty needs to be commensurate with its infringement, but in Norris’ case, he feels things were out of proportion. Primarily, he noted that even the FIA seemed unclear about the necessity of a yellow flag.

“It’s interesting that the FIA themselves were going on and off with the yellow flag, and at some stage, the yellow flag was even removed, which gives a sense of, from a specificity point of view, how severe is the situation,” he said.

“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.”

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

Doing so dropped him to the back of the field; he was able to fight his way up to 10th at the checkered flag to score a single point, but it leaves McLaren in the thick of a heated battle with Ferrari heading into Abu Dhabi.

“It’s definitely material that the FIA should consider very seriously if we want fairness to be part of the going racing in Formula 1,” Stella said.

“We need to make sure that the business is run in a way that some fundamental element of proportion and specificity are guaranteed when a penalty is applied. Otherwise the consequences may go out of control.”

As such, Stella is calling for an FIA review of the Qatar GP — not out of the hope of overturning Norris’ penalty, but in hopes of achieving greater clarity from the FIA regarding how it came to its conclusions. He referred to it as “a review that puts the sport in a better place.”

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

The FIA have now noted that it intends to debrief with race control in order to offer clarity regarding the penalties at Qatar; how that process impacts the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finale remains to be seen.

Read next: How a chaotic Qatar GP is a symbol of much deeper FIA turmoil