Checo unsafe condition, Red Bull fined €25,000, 3 grid drop penalty

€25,000 team fine to make sure Max keeps the lead he’s built and no safety car comes out? Sounds like Checo’s doing his job pretty well.

But there have been several cases in the past where a driver has returned to the pits with a broken rear wing. Is this a new rule??

The fact that you can get fined €50k for touching a rear wing (Max 2021), yet only €25k for telling your driver to drive around with it hanging on by a thread solely to tamper with safety car timing to the benefit of your other driver is absolute insanity to me.

What an absolutely ludicrously small fine for purposefully jeopardising the safety of other drivers to benefit your star driver.

I'm not even that angry at red bull. If cheating only gets slaps on the wrists like this then they'd be morons not to do it. There were bigger threats from the FIA over Hamilton's fucking nose stud, FFS.

The team confirmed in the hearing that the driver had been advised to bring the car back to the pits as they were trying to avoid a Safety Car situation.

Seems unfair for Checo to get a 3 place grid drop in this case.

The Stewards determine that, as well as a financial penalty for the team, a sporting penalty is necessary due to the safety implications of the incident. The penalty is imposed in line with precedents.

Sure, I guess.. Still harsh.