McLaren has been handed a €30,000 fine by the Monaco Grand Prix stewards for placing “transparent tape” over the button the marshals needed to press to recover Lando Norris’s stricken car in second practice.

Norris’s McLaren suddenly ground to a halt in FP2, and he and a McLaren team representative were summoned to see the stewards two hours after the session for a breach of the regulation concerning the clutch disengagement system.

That’s to do with the marshals being able to safely and efficiently remove a stranded car by engaging the CDS button.

This was the same regulation Racing Bulls was found to have breached in Montreal - because of its CDS button having a dual purpose. It was fined €30,000 with €20,000 of that suspended.

But in Monaco, McLaren was handed a €30,000 fine (€10,000 of which is suspended) after the stewards came to a remarkable conclusion.

“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,” the stewards’ verdict read.

“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.”