Why Mercedes haven't been penalised by the FIA despite another curfew issue
F1 News
Mercedes had another curfew issue, this time before the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend. The FIA will not penalise them. Last week, the team had to work late into the night to repair George Russell's car following his FP2 crash. This was Mercedes' second and final curfew strike of the season, and a penalty will follow if the team breaks the curfew again.
The FIA Formula 1 technical delegate Jo Bauer noted that team personnel from Mercedes were inside the confines of the circuit when it was closed. "Last night team personnel of Mercedes, who are associated with the operation of the car, were within the confines of the circuit during the fourteen hour period which commenced at 17:30 on 31 October, eighteen hours before the scheduled start time of P1, and ends four hours before the schedule start time of P1 at 07:30 on 01 November," the report said.
Why Mercedes will not get a penalty
The team has already broken the curfew twice, however, this isn't counted as a team curfew. The report continued: "This was the first of three individual exemptions permitted for Mercedes during the 2024 season and therefore no action should be taken".
In the Mercedes debrief for the Mexican Grand Prix, Andrew Shovlin hoped the team will not need to break it again, and a contingency plan is in place. "If we needed to do it on another Friday night, the penalty is actually defined in the sporting regulations, and it is both cars starting from the pit lane. The reality is you would do everything to make sure you do not need to break that again, and what that would probably mean in practice is that your car is not ready for FP3," Shovlin, Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director stated.
"You can come in when you can on Saturday morning and then you just work as long as you can through FP3 to hopefully get the car ready for qualifying, but fingers crossed we are not going to be in that situation," he added.