FIA confirms McLaren fine after Lando Norris Spanish GP qualifying incident
Lando Norris has had a few run ins with the FIA over the course of his F1 career
McLaren has been fined €900 by the FIA stewards after Lando Norris exceeded the pit-lane speed limit in qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid.
Norris secured his third pole position of the F1 2026 season in Saturday’s qualifying session at the new Madring circuit.
McLaren fined €900 by FIA stewards over Lando Norris pit breach
The reigning world champion clocked a fastest time of 1:31.824 to pip Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli to pole by 0.011 seconds.
Norris’s pole lap came after he had been classified no higher than fourth throughout practice and the first two segments of qualifying.
It has emerged that Norris committed a minor pit-lane speeding breach in the early stages of qualifying in Madrid.
The British driver was clocked travelling at 88.5 kilometres per hour in Q1, 8.5km/h over the limit of 80km/h.
McLaren has been hit with a fine of €900 for the breach, with the FIA confirming the news shortly before Norris swept to pole.
The stewards’ report reads: “Car 1 exceeded the pit lane speed limit which is set at 80 km/h for this event by 8.5 km/h.”
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Norris’s previous pole positions in 2026 came in Hungary and the Netherlands, with the 26-year-old converting pole into victory on each occasion so far this season.
Asked how he managed to claim pole, Norris told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets in the post-qualifying press conference: “That’s a secret! It’s a secret that even I don’t know!
“I’ve been having a good feeling. Of course, I didn’t get any laps in FP2 yesterday [due to a technical problem], so I’ve been playing a little bit of catch-up and there was just a good amount of corners where I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
“So whether it was the first chicane or the second chicane, just a couple corners where I knew what the limit was. I just was struggling to get there and just push into it as much as what I wanted before in qualifying.
“And the last lap, I improved seven [or] seven-and-a-half tenths in one lap.
“So that’s not something to be proud about, but the fact I still did it in Q3 when it kind of matters most is the thing I should be proud about.
“So it was just a perfect lap, really, until that point.
“Every corner I did what I wanted to do and I planned out to do – bar the last corner.
“At the last corner, I just had a bit of a little moment – I think I got a bit excited in the car – and I just overpushed the entry.
“And honestly, I thought I was in the wall, so it was luckily a short run to Turn 1.
“But the lap really was just perfect from good exits, good kerbs, just getting all the little things that are very important around here correct.
“And I did that only on my last lap and it all worked out.”
Norris famously does not use a lap-time delta on his steering wheel, leaving him driving the lap without knowing how his time compares to previous efforts.
Asked if he knew his pole lap was a big improvement on what came before, he replied: “Seven tenths’ worth? I’m not sure!
“I certainly did. I knew my Turn 1, Turn 2 was good – or better at least – and maybe [worth] half a tenth. You could say a little bit more, but maybe a tenth.
“The chicane was just the first time I got it right. I was just always a bit cautious and I think at times, sometimes when you’re more cautious, it almost is worse in terms of the kerb riding.
“So I kind of just hoped for the best in some ways and things came together.
“Obviously, I’m able to see the speed [on the dash], so I’m able to see when I’m a little bit better in terms of exit or straight-line speed.
“I could just feel it. I don’t need my delta. I can feel when I do what I need to do and when I get a good exit, when I’m on the limit of things.
“When I’m kind of a bit uncomfortable in corners is normally when it’s going pretty well, so I could feel it and I feel like I just made all the right things.
“My feet were doing what I wanted and that’s normally when things are going well.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
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