The Silverstone-based team was handed a 25,000 Euro fine, suspended for 12 months, after the FIA ruled that its numbers run in Barcelona did not comply with new demands laid down by the governing body.

The team elected not to appeal that decision and made subsequent modifications for the Monaco GP – moving the numbers on the nose and displaying name abbreviations on its shark fin.

However, two weeks on from the incident, the team has admitted that it is still very upset by what happened – and fears the championship has set a bad precedent where cars can be declared illegal despite passing scrutineering.

Force India technical director Andy Green said: "I was livid. Absolutely livid. Because that set a precedent that should never happen.

"There is no way a car can go through scrutineering several times. We are not just talking about Barcelona, we are talking about the fifth time it had been through scrutineering with exactly the same [numbers] position, and [there had been] not one bit of feedback from the FIA up until that point.

"Also, when we did revise the size of the numbering for that event, it was shown to the FIA prior to that event what we were going to do. So to then go through all those procedures and at the end of it say 'you are not right' and slap us on the wrist for it, it is just...," he added, shaking his head.

Green fears that what happened in Barcelona, with stewards picking up something post-event that the scrutineers had been happy with beforehand, could open the door for issues with other more important aspects on a car.

"How do we know we are legal now? I've got no idea. We've gone through scrutineering but to me now scrutineering means nothing. The precedent that it has set is huge. Absolutely huge."

Force India's COO Otmar Szafnauer said it was likely that the team would bring up the matter in a future Strategy Group meeting.

"For sure we can stick that up at the next meeting," he said. "But what we have tried to focus on doing was getting the number to be like they like it and we have achieved that. But the bigger question is, can this happen for something else?"

When asked why, if the team was so unhappy with what happened, it chose not to appeal, Szafnauer said: "We could have done. But the other thing to consider here is it was just a number. If it was something else then maybe you are right.

"We looked at it and said the easiest thing to do is change the number and just get on. And the nice thing is it was a suspended sentence, so if we did it we would have nothing. If it was a 25,000 Euro fine then we would have appealed."