Ferrari fined €10,000 over tyre rule breach at Belgian GP
NXTbets Pro | Published On: July 18, 2026
Ferrari fine
Ferrari was fined €10,000 by the FIA at the Belgian Grand Prix after two tyre rule breaches during Friday practice. The stewards said the team electronically returned two sets of dry-weather tyres after FP1, but did not physically return them to the appointed supplier before FP2. That handling error fell under FIA Article B6.4.2 and triggered the sanction. FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer alerted the stewards, which set the investigation in motion. The governing body treated the case as a procedural oversight, not a sporting advantage, and the final ruling reflected that view. Ferrari also admitted the mistake during the hearing and described the errors as oversights. The case centred on the process teams must follow after each practice session, when they are required to return two sets of tyres both electronically and physically so officials can carry out checks and safety monitoring. In that context, the issue was administrative rather than competitive, but it still broke a clear rule and brought a financial penalty.
Leclerc, Hamilton
The breach involved both Charles Leclerc’s car and Lewis Hamilton’s car, with each Ferrari car fined €5,000. No sporting penalties were imposed on either driver. That outcome kept the punishment limited to the team and avoided any change to the competitive order from the practice session. Ferrari’s admission during the hearing made the position clear. The team accepted that the tyres were handled incorrectly after FP1 and before FP2, and the FIA accepted the matter as an oversight rather than a deliberate attempt to gain an edge. The detail matters because the rule covers the handling of tyres, not just their use on track. Teams must return the designated sets in the correct way after practice so the supplier and officials can complete the required checks. Ferrari missed that step on both cars, and the stewards responded with separate fines for each entry. That split the sanction evenly between Leclerc and Hamilton’s machinery and kept the response aligned with the procedural nature of the breach.
FIA ruling
The FIA’s ruling at Spa-Francorchamps came down to process, documentation and safety control. Friday practice is one of the sessions in which tyre movements are tightly tracked, and the rule requires teams to hand back two sets of dry-weather tyres both electronically and physically after each run of the session. Ferrari completed the electronic return after FP1, but the physical handover to the appointed supplier did not happen before FP2. That gap was enough for the stewards to act once Bauer raised the issue. The investigation found two separate breaches, one for each car, and the final decision attached €5,000 to each entry for a total of €10,000. The FIA drew a clear line between a procedural mistake and a sporting offense, and it placed this case in the first category. Ferrari’s admission reinforced that conclusion. No sporting penalties followed, and the ruling kept the focus on compliance with a rule designed to support checks and safety monitoring rather than race control.
