The McLaren-Honda team have escaped a penalty for accidentally fitting one of Jenson Button’s tyres to the car of Fernando Alonso during qualifying for the British Grand Prix on Saturday.
The confusion arose when the team were expecting Button into the pits first, only for the Briton to be called into the FIA Weighbridge, meaning Alonso pitted first, with one of Button’s tyres then being fitted to the Spaniard’s car.
The team could have had Alonso’s times from qualifying deleted after breaching article 25.4 of the Sporting Regulations, but the stewards deciding a reprimand was enough, with the team admitting it happened accidentally due to a communication error.
“We had a double pit stop with both cars and a little bit of confusion coming,” said McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier.
“Fernando passing Jenson, Jenson stopping at the FIA scale and then one of the tyres of Jenson was put on Fernando’s car.”
