Norris was given a three-place penalty at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after failing to reach the pit lane in Q1 on Saturday when a red flag was shown.
Norris also received three penalty points on his FIA super license, bringing him to a total of eight points in the 12 months.
The McLaren driver was frustrated with the penalty and called it unfair, believing that he had done the safest thing and that “a little more leniency” should be used in situations.
But FIA Race Director Michael Masi saw Norris’s complaints grim and believed it was obvious he should have pitted straight away when the red flag was shown.
“From karting to Formula 1, when a red flag is displayed, the meaning is very clear: slow down and get into the pit lane immediately,” said Masi.
“So that there is no confusion about a six-year-old who is in his first karting event through to Formula 1.
“It’s constant across all circuit races.”
Also read:
McLaren team principal Andreas Seidl shared Norris’ frustration with the starting penalty that sank him from sixth to ninth place and said ahead of the race that the rules needed to be more flexible.
“It is disappointing that, for example, you do not have the opportunity to get reprimanded if there has to be a penalty,” said Seidl.
“But in the end it is what it is, there is no point in wasting any more energy on it.”
The Stewards’ initial decision was that a starting penalty of five would normally have been imposed, but that it was reduced to three because Norris was so close to the pit entry, which gave him less time to react and get into the pit.
Masi stated that the extenuating circumstances were applied correctly, but the stewards deemed the three penalty points appropriate.
“With regard to the penalty points and the actual penalty itself, the stewards can of course apply any of the penalties and any penalty points they deem appropriate in an incident,” said Masi.
“Yes, they have a policy to use, but in those circumstances they saw it was appropriate not to apply the policy due to the extenuating circumstances, which was a harsher penalty.
“But with regard to the penalty points, they felt it was appropriate as it was a red flag violation.”
The post Norris could have received a tougher F1 red flag penalty first appeared on monter-une-startup.
