Why Hamilton’s Qatar and Norris’s Saudi Arabian false starts were treated differently

Lewis Hamilton was penalised at the Qatar Grand Prix for a false start having moved – and then stopped – before the lights went out to begin the race.

The Mercedes driver picked up his first penalty of a trying race when he nudged forward early, though his loss of momentum as he tried to correct the error saw him lose spots off the line.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton was downcast after the race when holding his hands up for the error, as well as his later penalty for speeding in the pits, saying: “It could have been worse, but I finished and it’s over.

“That was me at the start. And then the puncture was really unfortunate. And the pitlane, that was me as well. I’ll do my best, but I’ll get back up tomorrow and give it another shot.”

But the consistency of penalty application had arisen on social media amid the debate around the FIA’s decision-making at the Losail International Circuit, with some pointing to Lando Norris’s lack of punishment for a similar misjudgement at the start at this year’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

So why was Hamilton punished and Norris wasn’t?

What did Norris do?

At the second round in Jeddah, Norris did almost the exact same thing as Hamilton had done in nudging forward in his grid box before the lights extinguished, before stopping and then getting going with a loss of momentum.

The ‘false start’ was noted by Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate George Russell, who was straight onto his team radio to call “false start Norris” as he breezed by the McLaren.

But it transpired that Norris had failed to trigger the FIA transponder at the start, meaning that because of the absence of an alert from the sensor, he was spared a penalty.

The stewards’s report at the event read: “The Stewards reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and determined that the video appeared to show that Car 4 moved before the start signal was given.

“However, the FIA-approved and supplied transponder fitted on the car did not indicate a jump start. Article 48.1 a) of the Formula One Sporting Regulations states clearly that the judgment of whether or not there was a jump start is to be made in accordance with the transponder, which did not show a jump start. In the…