Red Bull at centre of ‘tapegate’ claims after ‘significant’ United States GP penalty

A Red Bull team member attempted to interfere with a piece of tape attached to the pit wall by rivals McLaren ahead of Sunday’s United States Grand Prix, it has been claimed.

It comes after the team was hit with a ‘significant’ €50,000 fine, half of which is suspended, for a procedural breach ahead of the race start.

Red Bull accused of interfering with Lando Norris tape after €50,000 fine

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen claimed his third victory in four races at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, on Sunday, reducing his deficit to championship leader Oscar Piastri to 40 points with five races of the F1 2025 season remaining.

Piastri’s McLaren teammate Lando Norris finished second, having shared the front row of the grid with polesitter Verstappen.

McLaren has long carried out the practice of applying a strip of tape to the pit wall ahead of the race start to act as a visual marker for Norris as he lines up in his grid box.

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Norris’s grid slot at the Circuit of the Americas was located next to the first gate in the pit wall where team members exit the grid following the start of the formation lap.

Multiple reports on Monday have claimed that a Red Bull team member re-entered the grid area after the start of the formation lap began on Sunday, with the unnamed individual giving no response when marshals – in the process of closing the gate – attempted to stop him.

The Race claims that the team member reached on to an area of the pit wall parallel to Norris’s grid slot, with various sources indicating that the Red Bull figure was targeting the tape left by McLaren.

It adds that the United States Grand Prix was not the first time that Red Bull has ‘interfered with the tape’ applied by McLaren on the pit wall, with the newly crowned constructors’ champions recently changing its methods to make the tape more difficult to remove.

PlanetF1.com understands there is confidence that there will not be a repeat of the issue going forward.

The practice of applying tape to the pit wall is not covered by the rules relating to the race start procedure or the use of the grid box, with McLaren’s use of tape as a visual marker for Norris not considered illegal.

As such, it is also not illegal for rival teams to interfere with the tape.

The FIA stewards’ verdict made no reference to the alleged incident involving the tape, with Red Bull’s fine related to safety concerns of a team member re-entering the gate well area after the formation lap had commenced.

The stewards’ report read: “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 realized 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 reoccurrence, a portion of the financial penalty is suspended.”

Speaking after the race in Austin, Laurent Mekies, the Red Bull team principal, described the incident as a “misunderstanding.”

Mekies told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “We fully respect the stewards.

“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.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Elizabeth Blackstock

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