Red Bull fined £43,000 after team member tries to tamper with Lando Norris grid tape
Red Bull have been fined £43,000 after a member of the team broke regulations in an act of gamesmanship at the US Grand Prix, when attempting to remove a piece of tape from the pit wall placed there by McLaren to aid their driver Lando Norris in lining up correctly on the grid.The incident was an unusual example of low-level skulduggery between teams as Red Bull were caught out by CCTV cameras trackside and the race stewards issued the fine for events which took place just before the off.Norris was lined up in second place behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the grid at Austin, where Verstappen went on to win.Some teams will use a piece of tape attached vertically to the trackside pit wall as a marking indicator for drivers of their grid box.With visibility from the car very limited, especially of the markings on the grid itself, it is a visual aid for the driver to ensure they are positioned correctly for the start.
Notably in Bahrain this season Norris placed his car just ahead of his grid slot and was given a five-second penalty.There is nothing in the regulations against a team using duct tape in this fashion but equally there is nothing preventing other teams from removing it.In this case, however, the employee in question had entered what is known as the “gate well area” after the formation lap had begun in an effort to remove the tape, against the instructions of the marshals there.Entering this area when it has been cleared for the start is considered an “unsafe act” and carries a hefty fine.The FIA stewards’ report said a team representative from Red Bull at the subsequent investigation stated that the team member “was not aware of the efforts of the marshals to stop him”.
The post-race press conference in Austin for the Red Bull team principal, Laurent Mekies, was delayed as he attended the FIA hearing and he later described the incident as a “misunderstanding”.It is understood this is not the first time Red Bull have attempted to tamper with McLaren’s grid-side markers and the latter looked into a new way of using it at Austin.
Grooming gang victim quits inquiry panel over ‘condescending language towards survivors’
Keir Starmer’s national grooming gang inquiry has suffered a blow after a prominent survivor resigned from its overseeing panel saying she disagreed with a shortlist of two possible chairs.Fiona Goddard, who was abused by an organised street gang in Bradford while living in a children’s home, stepped down on Monday from the victims survivor liaison panel, voicing concern over political interference and the “condescending and controlling language used towards survivors” during the process.Two prospective candidates to chair the inquiry, the former deputy chief constable Jim Gamble and the chair of the child safeguarding practice review panel, Annie Hudson, are due to meet the panel on Tuesday.Terms of the statutory investigation are still being discussed by the panel of stakeholders including survivors of abuse rings, four months after the prime minister bowed to pressure and set it up.In an email sent on Monday morning, Goddard wrote that she was removing herself from the liaison panel
Low participation in medical trials puts millions of young people at risk
Millions of young people risk missing out on new treatments for health conditions and having to use medicines that are unsafe, ineffective or inappropriate because so few take part in medical research, experts have warned.Data analysis by the Guardian reveals that members of gen Z – those born between the late 1990s and the early 2000s – are significantly underrepresented in clinical trials and health studies.People aged 18 to 24 make up 8% of England’s population, but only 4.4% of those taking part in medical research.Though less affected by life-threatening conditions such as cancer and heart disease, young adults still experience a significant burden of disease
‘I wish I had taken part sooner’: how a medical trial transformed a young person’s life
Millions of young people risk missing out on new treatments for health conditions and having to use medicines that are unsafe, ineffective or inappropriate because so few take part in medical research. One of those bucking the trend explains why he signed up to a study and how it transformed his life.Gulliver Waite was diagnosed with clinical depression at 19. For years, he struggled with extremely low mood, anxiety, frequent panic attacks and occasional paranoia.“I put everything I could into working because it was basically all I could do,” he says
Millions exploited by ‘menopause gold rush’ amid lack of reliable information, say UK experts
Millions of women are being exploited by a “menopause gold rush” as companies, celebrities and influencers take advantage of a “dearth” of reliable information on the issue, experts have said.Healthcare companies and content creators saw menopause as a “lucrative market” and were trying to profit from gaps in public knowledge, women’s health academics at University College London (UCL) said.Researchers called for the rollout of a national education programme after finding a significant number of women do not feel well-informed about menopause.Writing in the medical journal Post Reproductive Health, they said: “There has been a rapid expansion in unregulated private companies and individuals providing menopause information and support for profit; this has been termed the ‘menopause gold rush’.“This fragmented landscape of menopause support and education leaves people vulnerable to financial exploitation, may propagate misinformation and is likely to amplify existing menopause-related health inequities
Don’t cut London’s affordable housing quotas, Labour MPs urge ministers and mayor
Labour MPs are urging ministers and the London mayor to drop controversial plans to reduce affordable housing quotas in the capital in order to boost homebuilding.MPs have said they are concerned about the proposals being drawn up by the housing secretary, Steve Reed, and the mayor, Sadiq Khan, in response to a sudden drop in new development in the capital.Reed and Khan are considering allowing builders to qualify for fast-track planning approval while promising to build 20% affordable homes, rather than the current minimum of 35%. Labour MPs hope to use the next few weeks before the package is formally announced to persuade them not to do so.Florence Eshalomi, the Labour chair of the housing select committee, said: “Solving the housing crisis relies not just on how many new homes we build, but also on their affordability
Will affordable housing be the casualty as London tackles its building emergency?
Sadiq Khan has known for a while that he has a problem with housebuilding in London. But last week a consultancy published figures about the scale of the problem, which prompted full-scale alarm in City Hall and Whitehall.The analysis from Molior showed that new housebuilding in the capital had collapsed. Only 40,000 homes are under construction – two-thirds the normal rate – and in the first three months of the year builders started work on just 3,248 private sector units.“It is a perfect storm of economic conditions impacting housebuilding,” said one City Hall source
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Red Bull fined £43,000 after team member tries to tamper with Lando Norris grid tape
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