Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, has said that Lando Norris’ stop-go penalty at the Qatar Grand Prix represented a “serious impairment of safety” and was in line with guidelines given to teams this year.

Norris received the 10-second penalty, the harshest before a driver is disqualified from a race, for failing to slow down on the main straight and receiving two yellows.

The penalty dropped Norris from second place in the rankings, although he fought his way to tenth place by the finish.

On Monday, the FIA ​​said guidelines had been communicated to teams on February 19 this year saying such an offense would result in a stop-go penalty.

A double violation of the yellow flag is considered a serious safety violation, which is why such violations are punished with such a high penalty.

It added: “A double violation of the yellow flag is considered a serious safety impairment, which is why such violations are punished with such a high penalty.”

As a precedent, Kimi Raikkonen was given the same penalty for a similar incident at the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix.

The yellow flags were waved due to a piece of debris on the main straight and the wing mirror came off Alex Albon’s Williams.

The race stewards decided against using the safety car or the virtual safety car to clear the debris.

Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz ended up suffering tire damage when they drove over the debris, which ultimately led to a safety car anyway.

Although this drew criticism online, all three top finishers in the race said the debris did not warrant either action.

“To be honest, it was a bit difficult to see what it was,” said race winner Max Verstappen. “I didn’t even know it was a mirror. Of course I saw the debris, but we did more races where there was some debris offline.”

“I guess it’s a pretty difficult decision. But then I think a car drove over it at some point. And then, of course, there were bits of carbon flying everywhere. And of course I don’t know.” What is of course the reason for the punctures, but it is perhaps something that needs to be analyzed, but at the moment it is a bit difficult for me to give a clear opinion on it.

The explainer added four bullet points from the FIA’s perspective:

“Normally the safety car is not deployed if there is a small amount of debris and it is outside the racing line

“-The extensive debris after a car hit the mirror and the tire damage that occurred shortly afterwards forced the decision to use a safety car

“-A VSC would not have been a solution as the cars remain spread out and a marshal does not have enough time to clear the debris

“-The FIA ​​is constantly reviewing its methods and processes and will further analyze the specific scenario and discuss it with the teams to see if a different course of action needs to be taken in the future.”