Red Bull were fined for tampering with Lando Norris grid marker

Red Bull were fined because a team member attempted to interfere with a marker for Lando Norris’s grid position ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

Following an investigation into an alleged pre-race rules breach, Red Bull were fined €50,000 after a team member ignored instructions from marshals and "entered the gate well area in proximity of the second grid position”.

Half of the fine was suspended for the rest of the 2025 season on the condition the incident is not repeated.

It has now been revealed, as per BBC Sport, that the Red Bull team member was trying to remove the tape on the pitwall marking Norris’s grid position.

Norris qualified second on the grid alongside polesitter Max Verstappen for Sunday’s race in Austin.

McLaren has been using a strip of tape on the wall nearest to Norris as a visual aid to help him line up in his grid box since the start of the season.

There is nothing in the rules that states this is illegal, nor is there anything permitting teams from trying to remove such markers.

Drivers are penalised if they do not correctly position their cars on the grid for the start of a race.

According to BBC Sport, it is not the first time that Red Bull have done this to a rival team, prompting McLaren to resort to using stronger tape.

FIA stewards explain incident

“The team representative stated during the hearing that the team member informed him that he was not aware of the efforts of the marshals to stop him,” the stewards said.

"However, the Stewards determine that any person affiliated to a team or other stakeholders should be aware that entering the track or hindering the safety measures to prepare the track for the race after the grid has been cleared is absolutely prohibited.

"Thus, irrespective of whether or not the instructions of the relevant officials have been realised by the person concerned, hindering or delaying the process of closing the gates before the race start must be considered as an unsafe act and therefore a significant penalty to the team is warranted.”

Speaking before the verdict was announced, Red Bull team principal Lauren Mekies described the incident as a “misunderstanding”.

”We fully respect the stewards,” Mekies said. "But just to tell you what I know, I think we were summoned because it was felt that some time during the grid procedures one of our guys had not followed the official, some marshal instructions. And we spoke with our people. They are very positive that they have followed marshal instructions at all times.

"So I think it's probably a misunderstanding there. Again, we went to see the video with the FIA. And for sure it's something we can do better in the future.

"But certainly on our side we do not feel that we have ignored any instructions. We did not get any specific instructions. So I think it's a very small thing but nonetheless something we will address in the future."

Verstappen claimed a dominant victory ahead of Norris to cut his championship deficit to Oscar Piastri to 40 points with five races remaining.