Red Bull tried to hinder McLaren before the start.

      After the United States Grand Prix, later that night, it emerged that Red Bull Racing had been fined €50,000 for breaching the FIA International Sporting Code.

      It turned out that a member of the team had gone onto the grid after the formation lap had begun, but the question is: why did he do it? According to The Race, this person was trying to remove a marker from the trackside barrier that McLaren had left for Lando Norris.

      The British team had marked the exact spot where Norris should stop his car on the grid — the marker was placed so that Lando could see it from the cockpit. In this way McLaren wanted to make it easier for their driver to position the car so he could get as far forward as possible within the permissible limits.

      Norris started in Austin from second position, which is on the inside of the track next to exit No. 1 leading to the pit lane. But a Red Bull Racing employee, after the formation lap had already begun, went back to that exit despite marshals working on the pit lane trying to stop him.

      Apparently he did reach the section of barrier beside where Norris’ car was supposed to stop and attempted to remove the marker — a strip of adhesive tape — that the team had left for their driver.

      The Race writes that Red Bull had on several occasions tried similar actions at earlier rounds of the season, but in Austin McLaren took additional measures to make it harder for rivals to do so.

      It is stressed that the rules do not prohibit the use of such markers; more precisely, they are not mentioned in the regulations at all — therefore, actions that competitors might take to remove such a reference are not prohibited either. Whether such actions are in keeping with sporting principles and the proper spirit of competition is another question — all of this can be debated.

      Red Bull Racing was fined for something else: as the stewards’ decision at the United States Grand Prix states, all team personnel "must know that going onto the track or interfering with safety measures to prepare the track for the race after the grid has been cleared is strictly prohibited."

      Before the stewards' verdict was announced, the situation was commented on by Laurent Mekies, head of Red Bull Racing:

      "It seems that at some point during the pre-start procedure one of our guys did not follow the official directives or the marshals' instructions. We spoke with our people, and they believe they were following those instructions at all times. So I think that, probably, some misunderstanding occurred.

      Together with representatives of the FIA we looked at the video footage, and, of course, in future we can do some things better, but we definitely do not believe the team ignored any instructions. Overall, I think it's all minor. Nevertheless, in future we will pay attention to this as well."