[Rules] The FIA - what's occurring there?

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by peebee2

Maybe, but a penalty should be a penalty. We don’t need the nonsense like Silverstone 21 where one driver knocks another out of the way and still wins, whoever it is.

But that would mean penalties are not consistent, and based only on how well the driver performed in the race.

Hypothetical:

Verstappen and Norris both line up forward of their grid position.
If you apply a 5s penalty in the race, either driver can still have the opportunity to make that time up.
But what if you wait to the end of the race to determine the penalty, Verstappen might finish 45s in the lead, and Norris less than 5s ahead of 2 other cars with 10 cars covered by 25s.
What should the penalty be to make sure it is a 'penalty' but also consistent?

Context has to be removed as much as possible when applying penalties. The only two questions should be:
Which regulation was breached?
What is the penalty for breaching that regulation?

Everything else should be irrelevant.