F1 commentator David Coulthard violated Lando Norris upon the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen dominated in Las Vegas from the first turn, while Norris fought back from a bad start to claim second place and momentarily increase his advantage in the Drivers’ Championship to 30 points over his nearest challenger Oscar Piastri.
However, hours after the finish, both Norris and Piastri were disqualified from the race after their respective cars failed post-race technical checks. Indeed, the stewards revealed Norris had two measurements that were below the 9mm skid block limit.
The race itself saw Verstappen outfox Norris on the short run down to Turn One. The Briton darted to the inside of his rival, only to go too deep and give up first place.
After the incident Sky Sports’ Coulthard said: “Lando Norris tried to play Max Verstappen at his own game.
“The problem is that he doesn’t know the rules of that game.”
Indeed, Norris was third for a time as Russell overtook him around the outside at Turn Two, though the 26-year-old would go on to reclaim second place in the second half of the race.
Norris’s disqualification means he leads Piastri and Verstappen by 24 points ahead of the final events in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Lando Norris celebrating on the podium in Las Vegas before disqualification (credit: getty)
“I made the mistake into Turn One. You’ve got to be punchy into Turn One, I was just a bit too punchy,” Norris told Sky Sports, before being alerted of his disqualification.
“That cost me, so that’s the way it is sometimes. Still a good result, second, and still good points so it’s not like I’m too disappointed.”
Meanwhile, Verstappen said: “Normally the race is a tough one for us. We are normally not that great on tyres, but today it seemed like we had it a bit more under control and I could push a little bit more.
“That unlocked a little more pace and I could stay out a little bit longer and split the race in half. That helped a lot. The car was working well and much more to my liking. In the end it was quite a decent gap.”
