Former FIA steward Johnny Herbert anticipates further repercussions from the tape incident in Austin. Red Bull was fined after the US Grand Prix for attempting to remove a marking from McLaren on the pit wall. The incident, now jokingly referred to as ‘tape-gate’, is indicative of the jabs that competing teams throw at each other. According to Herbert, there will be more of these ‘games’ played in the upcoming races.
The day after the US Grand Prix, Red Bull received a fine of fifty thousand euros – half of which was conditional – for a procedural violation prior to the start of the race. A Red Bull team member tried to remove a piece of tape that McLaren had stuck on the pit wall. Lando Norris was supposed to use the marking to accurately position his car at the start.
Games in the Final Stages
In retrospect, Norris laughed off the incident. “They (Red Bull) did well,” the McLaren driver responded with a wink. “I didn’t care at all. In the end, I didn’t even use the tape – which made it even funnier.”
Former driver and ex-FIA steward Herbert predicts that similar incidents will occur during the last four Grands Prix as the title fight between McLaren and Red Bull intensifies. “Look at Austin and that fuss with the Red Bull mechanic,” Herbert said in the Stay on Track podcast. “It was about that tape that Norris had stuck on the wall – and the mechanic who had pulled it off. There will be more games played in the upcoming Grands Prix,” he predicted. “Red Bull is very good at playing such games.”
