F1's Qatar penalty drama will increase scrutiny on the FIA after recent upheaval

LUSAIL, Qatar — “Karma is a wonderful thing.”

After Max Verstappen crossed the line to win the Qatar Grand Prix, returning Formula One to the script from earlier in the year after controlling proceedings at Lusail, his race engineer GianPiero Lambiase could not help but make a comment.

Less than 24 hours after Verstappen had been stripped of pole position for allegedly driving too slowly ahead of George Russell in qualifying, resulting in an unusual one-place penalty, the four-time world champion had snapped back in fashion.

Post-race, Verstappen revealed just how aggrieved he was by the penalty, particularly with the role Russell — who rose from second to first on the grid — had played in the decision. Even though Russell was not on a quick lap, he successfully argued Verstappen had driven too slowly, resulting in the front row positions flipping.

“I’ve never seen someone trying to screw someone over that hard,” Verstappen said. “That, for me … I lost all respect.”

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said the penalty was “more based on hysterics from George” than anything. That, no matter how late Russell braked into Turn 1, Verstappen would always brake that little bit later. The first lap of the grand prix played that out when the Dutchman dove up the inside to grab a lead that he would never relinquish.

Ironically, Verstappen’s path to victory was made easier by another controversial penalty handed to his one-time 2024 F1 title rival, Lando Norris.

The McLaren driver had kept the pressure on Verstappen — but the stewards deemed that he had failed to slow on Lap 30, passing double-waved yellow flags shown for a loose rear view mirror on the main straight. A 10-second stop-and-go penalty in the pits — the most severe penalty available to the stewards besides disqualification — wrecked Norris’ race and let Verstappen easily win.

Both penalties increase the spotlight on the FIA and its officiating of F1 races through a period where growing questions have been asked of the regulator amid a flurry of high-profile exits under President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

“If you look at it in a positive way, it could have its own reality show of what’s happening at the moment,” Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team principal, said after the race.

“I think all of our stakeholders need to bear in mind that we need to protect this holy grail of a sport that it is and do it with responsibility and accountability, transparency. And it doesn’t come across like that.”

A recurring message from the drivers through 2024 has been a desire for consistency and transparency from the stewards in their decision-making and the awarding of penalties. Racing rules became a hot topic in the wake of Verstappen’s fights with Norris in both Austin and Mexico City, leading to plans for some tweaks in 2025.

But after the race weekend in Qatar, there was a fresh dose of concern from multiple teams.

Verstappen’s penalty was a strange one. In qualifying, all drivers must meet specific pace deltas when on slow-down laps to ensure they do not get in the way of other drivers. A standard penalty for impeding is a three-place grid drop, a just punishment for stopping a rival from improving his lap time. But the stewards only gave Verstappen a one-place drop, citing mitigating circumstances — chiefly that Russell was not on a push lap, so he did not miss out on setting a quicker lap time.

“I couldn’t believe that I got it,” Verstappen said after his win, believing it was “the first time that in a slow lap someone has been penalized.” Despite arguing his case to the stewards and explaining that he was trying to get out of the way of other cars, Verstappen said he “felt like I was talking to a brick wall.” There was no arguing his case.

The decision did motivate Verstappen’s thirst for victory, yet it also perplexed some of his rivals. Fernando Alonso, a driver who has seen it all in F1 over the past 23 years, joked about some opportunity going forward.

“(Verstappen) was slow, but George was on a slow lap as well, no?” Alonso said. “In Abu Dhabi, if I’m on a slow lap, I will push crazy for the car in front to have a penalty, I guess, if he’s impeding me. That’s the only thing they need to be careful of.”

The Norris penalty was different in that the McLaren driver immediately took full responsibility for failing to slow for the double waved yellows shown after Alex Albon lost his right-side mirror, which was left sitting on the main straight. The stewards said the telemetry showed Norris failed to slow, which McLaren also accepted.

“I let the team down,” Norris said, believing he must have missed spotting the yellow flags. “The team gave me a great car today. Easily the quickest out there, and I f—ed it up.”

The greater concern for Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, was the proportion of the penalty, given he thought race control seemed unsure whether or not there should even be 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,” Stella said, “which gives a sense of, from a specificity point of view, how severe is this situation?”

The last time someone received such a big penalty in-race for failing to slow for double-waved yellows was at Spa in 2017 when Kimi Raikkonen received the same sanction as Norris. It indicates there is some precedence within the regulations.

Had it been a five or 10-second penalty, it would not have stung nor totally flipped his race, dropping him to last and leaving him to recover to P10. It also has championship ramifications, given it allowed Ferrari to close the gap at the top of the constructors’ standings to 21 points. Without the penalty, clinching its first constructors’ title since 1998 in Abu Dhabi would have been a formality for McLaren.

“But the lack of any specificity and proportion is very concerning and is also a factor that could have a decisive impact on championship quest,” Stella said. “It’s definitely material that the FIA should consider very seriously if we want fairness, to be part of the ‘going racing’ in Formula One. It’s an important business.”

The debate around consistency and fairness is nothing new. However, the important context in Qatar is the recent changes at the FIA and its race management team.

First came the departure of Niels Wittich, F1’s race director since 2022, with three races left in the season. It was a sudden move that surprised the drivers, who had not been consulted, but they quickly warmed to the approach of his replacement, Rui Marques. Conversations over matters now felt two-way, they said.

However, while Marques’ approach was well-received, he faced added pressure when arriving in Qatar, where he was also required to serve as the race director for the Formula Two and F1 Academy races, making for a significant workload for just one person. This was due to the departure of Janette Tan, who was set to be the F2 race director in Qatar, along with that of Tim Mayer, one of the most experienced F1 stewards. Both were sudden exits, adding to the growing list of departures from the FIA in the past 12 months.

As race director, Marques does not rule on what penalties are awarded to drivers. He notes incidents and refers them to the stewards for their deliberation. However, what Marques does oversee are calls such as the deployment of the safety car or a Virtual Safety Car, both of which appeared through Sunday’s race.

Charles Leclerc speaks with Mohammed ben Sulayem, FIA President, in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar on December 01, 2024. (Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

The first sighting of debris toward the end of the main straight was on Lap 30, resulting in yellow flags. Norris failed to lift through that area two laps later, as Verstappen spotted and quickly asked his team to check on the radio. But it was not until Lap 35, by which point Valtteri Bottas had already struck the mirror and left more debris on the track, that the safety car was deployed. Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz also sustained punctures shortly before the safety car came out, causing both to drop far down the order.

Few drivers were overly worried about the debris or the time it took for the safety car to come out. “I went through that part of the track?” Alonso asked the media after the race. “I’ve been asked the same question, and I thought I never went through the straight with the mirror (on the track). I didn’t see it. I don’t know. It’s the first news that I had there was a mirror on the track.”

Sainz could not pinpoint what had caused the puncture, believing it to be a “perfect storm” of a long first stint on medium tires, the demands resulting from the high-speed corners, and potentially some debris or gravel. “It could have been any of them (that was) the cause of the puncture,” he said. “We will never know.”

So, while the chaos that ensued around that phase was noteworthy and did change a lot of drivers’ races, it wasn’t as much of a talking point as the penalties for Verstappen and Norris and the decision-makers behind them. At the time of writing, the FIA is working on an explainer for the calls it made.

But at a time when F1 drivers are calling for greater transparency and asking questions of the FIA over its actions, particularly after the latest exits — or, as Russell put it, waiting to get an “understanding of what’s going on and who’s getting fired next” — the confusion felt by many in Qatar will only add to concerns and demands for answers.

“In times when there’s so much polarization, so much conflict, the rationality needs to win,” Wolff said, “and for me, it doesn’t look that way at the moment.”