MCLAREN HIT WITH £25,900 FINE FOR TAPING OVER ‘NEUTRAL’ BUTTON ON NORRIS’S CAR

McLaren was hit with a €30,000 fine, one-third suspended, for making Lando Norris’s Clutch Disengagement System (CDS) useless during Monaco FP2. Marshals struggled to put his car in neutral after an electrical issue, forcing them to physically lift it onto a platform. The team admitted they had placed transparent tape over the essential cockpit-mounted button for aerodynamic gains, effectively rendering it inaccessible for quick activation.

Stewards noted this completely defeated the CDS’s purpose as a safety feature designed for quick access by gloved marshals. McLaren conceded the button was unpressable without a tool. This penalty is stricter than the one Racing Bulls received for a similar CDS issue two weeks prior, as stewards argued that incident should have put all teams on notice. McLaren must pay €20,000 immediately, with the remaining €10,000 suspended for a year, signaling a firm stance on F1 safety compliance.