FIA announce Red Bull F1 punishment after bizarre US Grand Prix breach

Max Verstappen,FIA,Red Bull,Belgium,2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

United States Grand Prix

FIA announce Red Bull punishment after bizarre US GP breach

A small error had costly repercussions for Red Bull

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 20 October 2025 12:20 Updated: 15:00

The FIA have announced a punishment for the Red Bull F1 team after an unusual breach at the US Grand Prix.

A team representative was summoned to the stewards after Sunday’s race for a unique mistake, which occurred during the formation lap of the US GP.

According to the stewards, a team member entered the gate well area at Gate 1 in proximity of the second grid position, which belonged to Lando Norris, after the formation lap had commenced.

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Reports from the pit marshal state that the Red Bull team member did not react to his efforts to prevent him from reaching the gate well area. The team member maintained that he was not aware of the marshal's effort to stop him.

Sky Sports News have reported that the Red Bull staff member was trying to remove tape stuck on the grid wall by McLaren, designed to allow Norris to achieve an optimal position in his grid slot amid limited visibility from the cockpit.

However, the stewards determined that any team member should be aware that entering the track or hindering the safety measures to prepare the track before a race after the grid has been cleared is prohibited.

Therefore, hindering or delaying the process of closing the gates before the race start must be considered as an unsafe act and a significant penalty to the team is warranted.

Red Bull were fined €50,000, €25,000 of which is suspended for the remainder of the 2025 season on condition that there is no breach of a similar nature.

Is Verstappen back in the title fight after COTA?

While this was a hefty lump of change for the Red Bull team to pay out, there were thankfully no sporting repercussions for the incident.

Max Verstappen blitzed the field this weekend at COTA, securing sprint pole, a sprint race win, pole position for Sunday and the US GP victory to take home the maximum amount of points on offer, 33.

Following a double McLaren DNF in the sprint, and a second and fifth place finish for Norris and Piastri in the grand prix, Verstappen is now 40 points behind the Aussie in the drivers' standings.

With five rounds remaining, two of which are sprint weekends, Verstappen will have to continue this imperious form to remain within a chance of fighting for a fifth consecutive world title.

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