"It was just amusing," says Lando Norris after Red Bull team member is caught trying to remove start line visual aid.

In the hours after last Sunday's Grand Prix the stewards fined Red Bull after 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.

For breaching Articles 12.2.1.h and 12.2.1.i of the FIA International Sporting Code Red Bull was 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.

However, while most thought this was another case of bureaucracy gone mad, it subsequently emerged that said team member was actually attempting to nobble Lando Norris' start.

With vision from the cockpit seriously impaired some drivers like visual aids in order to let them know exactly where to stop on the grid for the start - Norris having been penalised for being out of position in Bahrain.

Consequently, McLaren stick a piece of tape on the pit-wall as a marker for the driver and it is this bit of tape that the Red Bull team member was removing.

Such acts are put down to gamesmanship and are not in breach of the rules, Red Bull was fined because its team member was re-entering the grid.

Asked about the incident, Norris clearly found it amusing.

"Yeah, good job by them," he said. "Yeah, because they can," he added, referring to the fact that it is not against the rules.

"But it didn't matter," he continued, "I didn't use the tape, so it was extra amusing, because I didn't need it. We just put it there in case. So, it made it extra funny, because they got a penalty for it and I didn't even need it.

"They also tried to remove it and failed, because we made it special, so they couldn't take it off even," he laughed. "So, it was just amusing. Little side quests, I guess, for the teams to entertain themselves. But yeah, we were the ones laughing about it, I guess."

Seemingly this is not the first time this has happened, indeed in Singapore McLaren, underneath the tape, had written "better luck next time".

"It's just a backup if I need it," said Norris of the marker. "I used it for a little while and they tried to remove it already, I think in Monza and a couple of other places. So that's why we kind of made it like the F1 car park passes that you can never get out the window ever, like that. So, it was amusing to kind of try to see them taking it off and then not going to plan.

"I'll continue to use it," he admitted. "Sometimes I'd never use it at all because it's almost too far away sometimes to do it. But most, I'd say 95% of the races now, I use the line on the grid. So I think that's why it was even better."

"I think it's something that Lando needs in order to align himself with the grid box," said Carlos Sainz when asked about the incident, "and obviously someone saw a competitive advantage by trying to take that away from him.

"I said, I'm not going to elaborate," he added. "You're not going to get a headline from me here, but I know values in sport and what I would do if that was me and my team."

Asked if he has an aid of some sort when finding his grid slot, the Spaniard said: "Yeah, I'm lucky to have a very nice line of reference in my car that helps me line up. But I've been in cars before that don't have this possibility, and you need the tape on the wall to align yourself with the grid slot.

"So, it completely depends... but yeah, I do know if I was Red Bull, or Red Bull in principle, what I would do for someone that tried to do that."

"I think it's different from car to car how easy it is to see your grid box, because it depends on the side impact structure - how high and forward it is," added Nico Hulkenberg. "So yeah, it's different for everyone.

"It's not easy with this generation of cars, I think, for anyone. Personally, I don't use a tape. I just, last moment, see it - then I just judge where I think it is. Sometimes better, sometimes worse, but I haven't overstepped it yet. But it's a challenge with this generation of cars for sure."

"I go by visual," said Kimi Antonelli. "So, I take my references in practice, and then when I arrive on the grid, I know roughly where I end up once I line up on the grid."