Mercedes fined €10,000 over post-race breach

MONTMELO, Spain — Mercedes have been fined €10,000 after assistants for both the team’s drivers violated post-race procedures by entering the parc ferme area after Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished second and third respectively behind Max Verstappen at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya and therefore took part in the top-three post-race podium procedure as laid out by the FIA.

Part of that procedure states “driver physios must wait outside the cool down room behind the podium until the podium ceremony has concluded following the instructions given to all teams by the media delegate” and therefore must not approach their drivers immediately after they get out of the car.

The rule is in place to prevent team members interacting with drivers and handing them items before they were weighed by the FIA. The weight check is a mandatory FIA requirement to ensure the weight of car and driver has not breached the regulations.

A report by the stewards after the race revealed that the post-race procedure had been breached.

“The stewards received a report from the media delegate, which was subsequently confirmed by video evidence, that the physios / drivers’ assistants of Cars 44 and 63 entered parc ferme in violation of the Post Race Interview and Podium Ceremony Procedure that was published prior to the race ‘for the orderly conduct of the event,'” a statement said.

“Article 9.15.1 of the FIA International Sporting Code places the responsibility for the actions on the part of any person providing a service, on the competitor to whom the service is provided.”