This idea that the FIA had “no choice” but to impose the penalty is ludicrous. At multiple points this season the FIA has decided not to penalize a clear rules violation because of extenuating circumstances. Remember Max holding up traffic in the pit exits in qualifying? #F1
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not saying its good, but I think the official reason given for that (and other dumb stuff that happened this year) was that teams were able to convince them that the rules in question were poorly written and open to misinterpretation. the relevant rule in this case seems much less ambiguous
The official line that I heard was that there were conflicting rules (blocking in the pit vs. maximum lap time). But the rule was still violated.