FIA Formula One Race Director Michael Masi has explained the penalty issued to Max Verstappen following the crash with Lewis Hamilton at Monza.
Some criticisms have been directed towards the three-place grid penalty issued to the Red Bull driver, which will be served at the Russian Grand Prix, in comparison to the ten-second time penalty Hamilton was issued after the collision at Silverstone.
Despite that time penalty, the Mercedes driver went on to take the win while Verstappen was unable to finish and conceded the lead in the title race.
Therefore, many believe the punishment for Verstappen is unfair as it puts him at a significant disadvantage for next weekend's race.
However, addressing those criticisms, Masi has stated the two situations cannot be compared as the end result was different on both occasions.
''I think one of the things that we've generally agreed amongst the teams is that a five-second or a 10-second penalty, give or take, is there or thereabouts between the two of them," he said as per Autosport.com.
"So you know, you need to look at it on the basis of if they had continued, it would have been the time penalty in the race. However, they didn't.
''In Silverstone, you can't compare them at all, you've got two cars taken out in one incident, versus one car taken out in another incident. So you know, as in they stopped, they could not continue to serve the penalty is what I'm trying to explain.
So a grid penalty, as we've seen, is what's applied for this year, as we've agreed with all of the teams, is applied for when someone doesn't continue."
Verstappen currently holds a five-point lead in the race for the Driver's Championship ahead of Sochi next week.