Red Bull have been handed a “significant penalty” for a breach of the International Sporting Code at the United States Grand Prix.
The team enjoyed an almost perfect weekend in Austin, Texas, as Max Verstappen won the sprint race, claimed pole position in qualifying and then cruised to victory in the grand prix itself to close within 40 points of leader Oscar Piastri at the top of the Drivers’ Championship with five races remaining.
Despite Yuki Tsunoda’s almost non-existent contributions to their points tally, Red Bull are also within striking distance of second spot in the Constructors’ Championship – lying fourth but only 10 points behind Mercedes in second, although McLaren have already mathematically won that title due to their early-season dominance.
However, a post-race investigation in Austin found that a Red Bull mechanic had entered the gate well area after cars began the formation lap, which is deemed “an unsafe act”.
The team have duly been handed a €50,000 fine, half of which is suspended to the end of the season on the condition that there are no similar breaches.
Race officials released a statement regarding the incident, which said: “A team member re-entered the gate well area at Gate 1 in proximity of the second grid position after the formation lap had commenced and at the moment the pit marshals started to close the gate.
“According to the report from the pit marshals the team member did not appear to react to their efforts to prevent him from entering the gate well area. 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.
“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.
“In order to prevent any re-occurrence, a portion of the financial penalty is suspended.”
That was ultimately the only blight on an otherwise brilliant weekend for Red Bull, where Verstappen seems to be going from strength to strength as crunch time in the season approaches.
And before the penalty was handed down, team boss Laurent Mekies acknowledged the incident in comments to media but was adamant they hadn’t ignored any instructions from officials.
“We fully respect the stewards,” said Mekies. “It was felt that some time during the grid procedures, one of our guys had not followed the officials or some marshal instructions.
“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.
“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 instruction – we did not get any specific instructions.”
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