Lando Norris just suffered a total nightmare on track, but the drama off-track is even WORSE! 😱 The FIA just hammered McLaren with a massive fine after uncovering an illegal secret on his car.

McLaren F1 team have found themselves in hot water after the second free practice session at the Monaco Grand Prix on Friday.

The Woking-based team were penalised for a technical infringement involving Lando Norris, according to a detailed statement issued by the FIA stewards following the second hour of practice.

On Friday, Ferrari completely dominated the streets of Monte Carlo. Charles Leclerc posted the fastest time in FP1, while Lewis Hamilton took the top spot in FP2.

Max Verstappen, who finished third in both sessions, was also pleased to see the gap to the Ferrari duo shrink, much to Mercedes’ frustration as they not only trailed Ferrari but also Verstappen.

Meanwhile, McLaren struggled to find pace. Norris managed only sixth place in the first practice session, trailing by an astonishing 1.3 seconds, with team-mate Oscar Piastri a further two-tenths behind.

In FP2, the Australian dropped to seventh, finishing a full second behind the Ferrari pair and Verstappen, with Norris unable to produce a competitive lap time and ultimately having to park his car due to technical issues.

Adding to their woes, the team celebrating their 1000th GP this weekend now faces a hefty fine from the FIA.

The so-called clutch disengagement system (CDS) failed to operate correctly, hindering marshals from safely and swiftly moving the car behind the barriers.

As a result, McLaren has been slapped with a penalty of €30,000 €10,000 of which is suspended for a period of 12 months subject to no further breaches of the same regulation.

The stewards’ statement revealed that McLaren had applied a strip of tape over the CDS button.

The team admitted that, for aerodynamic reasons, they had used transparent tape on the button required to activate the CDS system.

Both the FIA representatives and McLaren acknowledged that this action completely undermined the system’s intended function, which is to be activated quickly by a marshal wearing protective gloves.

The team further admitted that it was impossible to remove the tape and press the button manually without the use of tools.