Lando Norris appeared to take delight in mocking Red Bull for failing in its removal of duct tape placed by McLaren next to his grid slot before the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.
The Milton Keynes-based squad was fined €50,000 – half suspended – after a member of its team re-entered the track after the formation lap began, and tried to scrape off the duct tape left there to assist Norris in parking perfectly before lights out.
Red Bull’s unusual misdemeanour became the talk of the paddock in the build up to this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, with many clamouring to ask Norris for his views on the issue.
But the Brit had nothing but amusement at the incident, concluding that the joke was on the team as it made no difference to his race start.
“Good job by them,” Norris joked to media including Motorsport Week. “But it didn’t matter, I didn’t use the tape so it was extra amusing because I didn’t need it, we just put it there in case.”
“So it made it extra funny because they got a penalty for it and I didn’t even need it. They also tried to remove it and failed because we made it special so they couldn’t take it off even.
“So it was just amusing, little side quests I guess for the teams to entertain themselves. But yeah, we were the ones laughing about it.”
Verstappen was also quizzed on the incident, but not before he injected a little bit of humour into his take too.
“Well, you see there’s a yellow line, right? In the grid box, you look at that one. So you just park your car,” he quipped to media including Motorsport Week.
“It doesn’t matter where you start really. Some people have other practices and I guess in Austin it took a bit longer for whatever reason that the gate closed.”
Verstappen did however seem to take the matter very seriously, and agreed that his team member was rightly penalised for the action.
“If he was instructed or not in the right way to stay out of it, I think it’s quite clear how they explained it also to the stewards,” he said.
“So I think that it’s quite understandable that you get fined for that.And it doesn’t even have anything to do with the tape. You can’t hold up the procedure of closing the gate.”
‘I’d probably take it off as well’ – F1 grid reacts to ‘tapegate’
George Russell gave his own take on the incident, also making a joke at it and stated that perhaps the team’s experience may justify a reason to not have committed the offence.
“I don’t know what the real truth is behind that story,” he said to media including Motorsport Week. “I’m OCD and if I saw a piece of duct tape on the side of a nicely spray-painted wall, I would probably take it off as well.
“Maybe the mechanic is being totally innocent, I don’t know. Maybe not, but I think they’re experienced enough, they don’t need gamesmanship to come out on top or to get the upper hand. Maybe I’m being too naive.”
Three drivers in the afternoon’s pre-race press conference were also asked about their viewpoints, quite literally, on the situation, and gave a driver’s perspective on parking in the grid box.
“I think it’s different from car to car how easy it is to see your grid box, because it depends on the side impact structure – how high and forward it is,” Nico Hulkenberg said.
“So yeah, it’s different for everyone. It’s not easy with this generation of cars, I think, for anyone. \
“Personally, I don’t use a tape. I just, last moment, see it – then I just judge where I think it is. Sometimes better, sometimes worse, but haven’t overstepped it yet.
“But it’s a challenge with this generation of cars for sure.”
Carlos Sainz revealed that the shape of his Williams FW47 means that he has a clear view of where to park, explaining that “it’s not an aero part – it’s just where the two mountings fix, just like a line, adding: “And I am lucky that it coincides exactly with the yellow line. I align myself to that and it’s pretty much spot on.”
“Yeah, I go by visual,” Andrea Kimi Antonelli explained. “So I take my references in practice, and then when I arrive on the grid, I know roughly where I end up once I line up on the grid.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris responds to McLaren retracting repercussions ahead of F1 Mexico GP
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