McLaren were fined €30,000 after stewards found that transparent tape had been placed over the cockpit-mounted CDS button on Lando Norris’s car. One-third of the penalty is suspended, but the team must pay €20,000 immediately.
The penalty became public on 5 June 2026, when the FIA stewards said marshals could not quickly put Norris’s car into neutral because the CDS, or Clutch Disengagement System, had been blocked. The issue mattered in the moment because the car had to be lifted by the nose before a wheeled platform could be slid underneath it.
That detail turned what might have looked like a minor cover-up into a safety breach. McLaren admitted the tape had been used for aerodynamic purposes, but the stewards said it completely defeated a system designed to be activated quickly by a marshal wearing protective gloves. The team also conceded that it was not possible to break the tape and press the button by hand without a tool.
The ruling also lands only two weeks after Racing Bulls were fined the same amount after the CDS button on Liam Lawson’s car failed. Stewards said that earlier case, and the penalty that followed it, should have alerted all teams to how important the CDS is, which is why McLaren’s punishment was not treated lightly.
McLaren now face a clear choice over the next 12 months: leave the issue behind, or risk the remaining €10,000 becoming payable if there is a similar breach. The unanswered question is why transparent tape was approved at all on a button that was supposed to be available in seconds, not something a marshal had to fight past with tools and patience.
