The stewards have fined McLaren €30,000 (£25,900), one-third of which is suspended, after finding the team had disabled its Clutch Disengagement System (CDS).
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The issue came to light when an electrical fault forced Lando Norris to stop his car during the second practice session. He pulled off in the run-off area at the Nouvelle Chicane.
Marshals struggled to move the car because they could not use the cockpit-mounted CDS button to put the car into neutral and allow it to be pushed away. Instead, they had to lift the nose of the car to slide a wheeled platform under it.
The stewards found the difficulty was caused by McLaren covering the CDS button. “The team admitted that for aerodynamic purposes it had placed transparent tape over the button that is required to be pressed to activate the CDS,” the stewards said.
“This, in the opinion of the FIA representatives and admitted by the team, completely defeated the purpose of the CDS, which is designed to be activated quickly by a marshal wearing protective gloves. The team conceded that it was not possible to break the tape and press the button by hand without the use of a tool.”
McLaren’s penalty follows a similar case two weeks earlier when Racing Bulls were fined the same amount, with two-thirds of that fine suspended, after the CDS button on Liam Lawson’s car failed. The stewards explained they imposed a tougher sanction on McLaren because “that breach, and the subsequent penalty, should have alerted all teams to the importance of the CDS.”
McLaren must pay €20,000 immediately. The remaining €10,000 is suspended and will become payable only if the team commits a similar breach within the next 12 months.
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