McLaren apologise to Norris, Piastri and fans for Las Vegas GP disqualification

McLaren have held their hands up and issued an apology to their drivers after their breach of Formula One regulations led to the disqualification of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the two leading title contenders, from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, and putting the F1 drivers’ championship within the grasp of reigning champion, Max Verstappen.

The race was won by the Red Bull driver but Norris took a strong second and Piastri fourth. However, four hours after the race and following an investigation by the FIA, both were disqualified after the skid blocks on the floor of their cars were found to have been worn down below the 9mm limit defined in the rules.

“We apologise to Lando and Oscar for the loss of points today, at a critical time in their championship campaigns after two strong performances from them all weekend,” said McLaren’s team principal, Andrea Stella. “As a team, we also apologise to our partners and fans, whose support means so much. While this outcome is extremely disappointing, we remain fully focused on the last two races of the season.”

The adjusted result means Verstappen has closed from 49 points behind Norris to just 24, level on points with Piastri, with two meetings remaining in Qatar in Abu Dhabi and 58 points on the table. Norris must outscore both his rivals by at least two points in Doha across the sprint and grand prix to be 26 points in front and claim the title there, but with the fight so tight it looks increasingly as if it will go down to the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Norris was disappointed that his efforts in Las Vegas had proved to be in vain. “It’s frustrating to lose so many points,” he said. “As a team, we’re always pushing to find as much performance as we can and we clearly didn’t get that balance right today. Nothing I can do will change that now, instead full focus switches to Qatar, where we’ll aim to go out and deliver the best possible performance in every session.”

Piastri said: “[It is] disappointing to come away from this weekend with no points after an unfortunate disqualification due to skid wear. With how close the grid is, we’re always looking at where we can gain performance, and we didn’t get it right this time. We now need to reset, refocus and push to get the best points possible in the final two rounds, both tracks that we’ve been strong at previously.”

The FIA issued a statement at 1.30am local timeafter a meeting with McLaren representatives that lasted for more than an hour and a quarter, an unusually long time in what are often considered open and shut cases with skid block wear. The FIA said in its decision: “The team argued that mitigating circumstances existed in that there was additional and unexpected porpoising at this event, limited opportunity to test due to the weather on day one, and shortened practice sessions.” The governining body added that, as has been the case in previous breaches of this rule, there was no grey area, but accepted that McLaren had not attempted to deliberately break the regulations.

“The FIA argued that unfortunately there was no provision in the regulations or in precedent for any penalty other than the usual penalty [ie disqualification],” it stated. “The FIA noted that it strongly held the view that the breach was unintentional and that there was not deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations.”

The skid blocks are titanium plates embedded within what is known as the plank beneath the car. The planks were once made of wood but are now made of permaglass, a glass-reinforced laminate composition. The titanium plates are what cause the sparks to fly from beneath the car when the downforce pushes them into contact with the track and wears them down. The thickness of the plank assembly is required to be 10mm, plus or minus 0.2mm when new, and is allowed some wear during running but cannot fall below 9mm.

Teams are expected to take this restriction in hand when setting up the ride height of their cars for races but will often try to sail as close to the wind as possible as a lower ride height can confer a performance advantage.