McLaren handed huge punishment after Lando Norris Monaco failure

McLaren has been handed a €30,000 fine by Monaco Grand Prix stewards, €10,000 of which is suspended, following a rules breach on Lando Norris's car. 

Early in FP2 in the Principality, Norris ground to a halt exiting the tunnel when the steering wheel in his McLaren suddenly went dark. 

As marshals tried to recover the stricken MCL40 machine, they tried to engage the Clutch Disengagement System (CDS) to allow them to freely move the car away, but they had to resort to putting the car on trolley wheels. 

Liam Lawson suffered a similar investigation last time out in Canada, with Racing Bulls being fined €30,000, €20,000 of which was suspended for 12 months. 

After Norris's investigation, the stewards have handed McLaren a similar base €30,000 fine, but elected to only suspend €10,000 of it, meaning the team must pay a fine of €20,000. 

"The Stewards heard from the team Sporting Director and Technical Director Applied Engineering, the FIA Single Seater Sporting Director, FIA Technical Delegate, FIA Electronic Engineer and FIA electric and Hybrid Powertrain Engineer," began the verdict. 

"The team admitted that for aerodynamic purposes, it had placed transparent tape over the button that is required to be pressed to activate the CDS.

"This, in the opinion of the FIA representatives and admitted by the team, completely defeated the purpose of the CDS system, which is designed to be activated quickly by a marshal wearing protective gloves.

"The team conceded that it was not possible to break the tape and press the button by hand without the use of a tool.

The Stewards have determined to suspend a lower amount of this penalty compared to a breach of this same regulation at the previous event, because that breach, and the subsequent penalty, should have alerted all teams to the importance of the CDS system."