Red Bull got into trouble after a staff member re-entered the track in Austin a week ago to tamper with Lando Norris’ visual aid.

Lando Norris’ race engineer Will Joseph places his visual aid tape on the wall (Image: Sky Sports)

McLaren have made a “clever” change to the tape that they use to held Lando Norris start races well, to prevent any potential tampering. It comes after it was revealed a Red Bull employee tried to peel off the tape before the start of the United States Grand Prix Sprint race in Austin last weekend.

That ended up with Red Bull getting a fine, not for trying to tamper with the tape but because, in order to try, the staff member in question entered an area of the circuit that he should not have. And team principal Laurent Mekies has vowed to put a stop to those “silly games”.

But it seems McLaren have decided to take no chances. Live on Sky Sports ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix, presenter Rachel Brookes and pundit Karun Chandhok went over to the side of the track where the tape had been placed adjacent to Norris’ grid box to explain how it helps the Brit – and point out what the team has done to make it harder to peel off.

Chandhok said: “That is a reference. If we look from here, there’s a direct line from where this piece of tape is to where Lando’s front tyre is. He’s lined it up because that is the end of the grid box. The top of the tyre is all you can see from the cockpit of the car because you’re so low down, so if you’ve got something that’s further away then you’ve got a bit more perspective and you can actually see.”

And Brookes added: “I’m not going to try to peel it off, but you can see it does have these bits cut into it as well, so if you try to peel it off, it will leave bits behind. That’s the clever change that they have made to that tape to make it more difficult to take it off.”

Norris was starting the race on pole position and desperate to keep the two Ferrari cars behind him on the long run to turn one. In the end, he had more than just Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to worry about as Max Verstappen got a superb launch from fifth on the grid and tried to go around the outside of everyone into the first corner.

But he ended up flying off track and forced to travel over the bumpy grass, eventually rejoining in fourth place behind Norris and the two Ferraris. And as the Dutchman fought with George Russell for position, both of them were caught out by Oliver Bearman who slipped past to take fourth place.