Stella: We don't want to see another 2021

Verstappen was deemed at fault by the race stewards in the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday for the clash with Norris, and based on that, was handed a ten-second time penalty.

However, the penalty was ineffective as the Dutchman finished fifth with the driver behind, Nico Hulkenberg, almost 20s behind, while Norris on the other hand retired and scored zero points.

For while, it has been agreed that penalties in Formula 1 will not be given based on the severity of the outcome of an incident but based on the rules, something Stella believes is unfair.

Speaking to the media - including GrandPrix247 - in Spielberg on Sunday, Stella was asked whether the Verstappen's penalty was fair given than he was able to race on while Norris couldn't.

He said: "That's a tricky one. It's a tricky one, because, if the stewards elected that the 10 seconds was an appropriate penalty, they, to some extent, go by their rulebook.

"So, I think we need to... it's complex, because sometimes the outcome can be minor. Sometimes it can be big, like in this case, with a car taken out and the other car with a race heavily compromised. I don't want to make here be in a position where I make everything simple or 'oh it was clear'... things sometimes are complex, they deserve enough reflection.

"I think the 10 seconds, as a matter of fact, today was ineffective," the Italian insisted. "And we have the driver that we are trying to chase in the classification then gained 10 points. Definitely deserves a reflection. I'm sure the FIA will approach this case, like I said before as an episode, which gives us a richness of cases that should be analyzed and think 'how do we move forward?'

"Because we don't want to see another 2021. I thought that was not a good point in Formula 1 racing. It might have been entertaining, but not for the good reasons," Stella pointed out.

The 2021 Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton had a bitter fight for the F1 Title with the former prevailing in the controversial 2021 Abu Dhabi season finale, but the buildup towards the final race in Yas Marina that year saw various questionable tactics by both Verstappen and Hamilton that stirred up controversy regarding the rules of racing, how they were applied and so on...

Stella believes that in some instances in 2021, Verstappen was not punished harshly enough to learn not to use some defense maneuvers which he applied at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday.

"The problem behind it is that if you don’t address these things honestly, they will come back," Stella said. "They have come back today because they were not addressed properly in the past when there was some fights with Lewis that needed to be punished in a harsher way. Like this, you learn now to race in a certain way, which we can consider fair and square.

"The stewards found that Max was fully at blame in this episode so it is not about racing in a driver’s way, it is about racing in the regulations," he noted. "The regulations must be enforced in a way that is effective.

"Because when a car is out of the race as a consequence of this accident the punishment needs to be proportionate to the outcome. We had, before this episode, twice moving under braking. It is evident and we have to enforce the way to go racing because we want to have fun.

"It would have been enough to give Max the warning, like a white and black flag, don't do it again. It would have been much more prudent in closing the door on Lando," the McLaren boss suggested in conclusion.