Lando Norris had confessed himself “pretty disappointed” at having finished only second on track at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. He would have felt a lot worse than that when he returned to the McLaren garage to find his car had failed post-race checks because, for about an hour, he knew the title was his in Qatar next week if he just beat his team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Now, Max Verstappen is a genuine threat again after Norris and Piastri were both disqualified when the FIA discovered too much wear on the underside of their cars. In both their cases, the margins by which they failed were considerably smaller than half-a-millimetre.
But it was enough for both McLarens to be kicked out, the final verdict coming more than four hours after the conclusion of the Grand Prix. Norris said: “We had to do some managing towards the end of the race and now we know it was due to some issues on our car, which have unfortunately resulted in us being disqualified.
“It’s frustrating to lose so many points. 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.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella apologised to both his drivers and explained why the “unintentional” rule breach had occurred. The Italian said: “During the race, both cars experienced unexpected, high levels of ‘porpoising’ not seen in practice sessions, which led to excessive contact with the ground.
“We are investigating the reasons for this behaviour of the car, including the effect of accidental damage sustained by both cars, which we found after the race, and that led to an increase of movement of the floor.
“As the FIA noted, the breach was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations, and mitigating circumstances also existed. 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.”
The outcome has gifted Verstappen the chance to fight for a fifth consecutive drivers’ title after all. He is now level on points with Piastri who, ironically, benefitted from the double disqualification as Norris would have pulled six points further away had the result stood.
The Brit can take some comfort from the fact he remains in a commanding position despite having 18 points stripped from him. He remains 24 clear at the top, though now with two threats to his chances rather than just one. Norris can still seal the title in Qatar if he scores at least two points more than both Verstappen and Piastri over the course of the Sprint weekend.
Even before this boost to his title chances, a joyful Verstappen had punched the air gleefully and sprinted into the embrace of his Red Bull colleagues after sealing victory.
Asked where the unusual show of enthusiasm had come from, he explained: “Because they don’t come as easy as 2023. In ’23, it was more like ticking boxes. Now, it’s not like that. This year has been annoying at some stages. Then, to still have this end to the season is amazing. You need to enjoy that.”
