Team fined for 'woman wearing shorts' at Spanish Grand Prix

If you thought some of the F1 penalties dished out by stewards were harsh, then here is your warning that a penalty at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix may slightly irk you.

This isn't F1 though, instead its the feeder series F2 having its own version of penalty nonsense.

The PREMA Racing team were handed a €500 fine for the infringement of trousers not worn in a restricted area next to a car during qualifying on Friday.

The car in question was Sebastian Montoya's, son of F1 icon Juan Pablo, but the person committing the heinous crime of not wearing trousers wasn't even a member of the team.

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Sebastian Montoya's sister causes team fine

Standing by the car minding their own business was Montoya's sister, Paulina, who was keeping a sensible distance from the car wearing a short white dress.

But the FIA stewards took a dim view of the incident, saying in a report: "The team representative explained that the woman wearing shorts was a guest of the team and not an operational team personnel member.

"The Race Director reminded the following to all the Competitors in Competition Notes in Madrid (art 11.1). Teams are reminded that guests are included in the category as defined in Article 20 of the ISC.

"Additionally, Article 9.15 of the ISC states that the Competitor is responsible for all acts or omissions on the part of any person to whom the Competitor has allowed access to the reserved area. Furthermore, ‘Article 22.15 of the Sporting Regulations states all team and technical personnel must wear long trousers in the pit lane during all practice sessions and the races.

"Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that a team member of Car 11 near the car was not wearing long trousers during the session and therefore decided to fine the team €500."

Poking fun at the incident, Paulina posted an image to Instagram on Saturday at Madring, showing her wearing trousers, captioning the image 'appropriate attire'.

Red Bull F1 star baffled

Now you may think 'ok, the FIA know more about me than safety at the race track' but one seasoned F1 engineer thinks the whole thing is all a bit silly.

Former Red Bull mechanic Calum Nicholas was left shocked by the decision, saying more consideration needs to be taken to the conditions considering the very hot temperatures in Madrid.

Nicholas said on X: "I will never understand this rule. It’s 30 degrees and F1 teams are allowed to wear shorts, even while doing pitstops in practice sessions. Make it make sense."

I thought an f1 mechanic would care a bit more about safety. pic.twitter.com/4zOzImyPiK

— Spinny!!!! ²⁶ ¹² ² ³ (@Spindycar) September 12, 2026

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A post shared by paulina montoya (@pala_montoyaa)

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Written by

Dan Ripley - Global Editor

I've been a massive F1 fan since the mid 1990s and continue to study the history of the sport long before that. As an experienced motor sport reporter covering F1, MotoGP and the LeMans 24 Hour race, being part of GPFans has allowed me to work with a diverse team with all sorts of different backgrounds in watching the sport and given me a greater appreciation of F1.

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