“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,” their report began.
“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 circumstances, we took no further action
You are forgetting the Carlos Sainz las Vegas incident. Car damaged due to track issues (some cover sucked out), needed to replace several parts, went over limit in spare parts = grid penalty.
Stewards acknowlegd this was not his/Ferrari’s fault and thus had common sense, but the rulebook did not foresee any exceptions for this scenario. So they felt obligated to apply the rulebook.
This is a case where they also literally apply the rules.