How McLaren walked the plank in Vegas and blew the title race wide open | RACER

To quote a very happy, er, me: “Every time this Formula 1 season seemed to be heading in a certain direction, there was a twist in the story that created uncertainty and excitement.”

Saturday night in Las Vegas was the latest example.

Max Verstappen’s victory was impressivebut it still felt like another big step towards the Drivers’ Championship for Lando Norris as he took another 18 points and extended his lead over teammate Oscar Piastri to 30, with Verstappen a further 12 points behind.

However, the metaphorical red flags waved when Norris had to dramatically slow his pace in the closing laps as he clearly had a problem under control. Lifting and cornering normally means one of two things: a car is low on fuel, or marginal wear on the boards.

About an hour after the end of the race, rumors began to circulate in the paddock that there might be a problem with Norris’ car, and McLaren went out while FIA ​​checks were underway. Then came the confirmation – on both cars the rear brake pads were measured below the legal limit of 9 mm.

And in one fell swoop, the entire complexion of the championship changed.

After an hour-long hearing, the reasons for McLaren’s miscalculation were deemed unintentional by the stewards, but a breach of the technical regulations will result in disqualification regardless of intent.

All teams faced the challenge of poor weather, a track with very little grip to start the weekend and some lost due to late arrivals in FP2. They could also all face porpoising during the race depending on how they drive their car, so McLaren’s pleas for extenuating circumstances failed. Given the circumstances, the rest of the electricity grid built in a greater contingency.

It’s a failure that will cost Norris more than Piastri, as the Australian theoretically regains the six points he originally lost and is left with 24 points heading to Qatar. But it is Verstappen who is the real winner.

Taking maximum points on a night when both McLarens failed to score, he went from a massive title outsider to a real threat. Now level with Piastri, Verstappen is within a race victory of Norris, with 58 points still to play in the final two rounds.

Despite winning in Qatar last year, Verstappen is still the outsider as McLaren can be expected to be strong in each of the last two races. But the almost ruthless way in which he completely erased a 104-point deficit to Piastri seven races ago brings enormous pressure.

This was a Drivers’ Championship that certainly seemed to be going the McLaren duo’s way, and could still be won by either of them, but no one would have predicted that Verstappen would be in a position where he could leave Qatar with the championship lead.

McLaren’s mistake came despite Verstappen being 49 points behind on arrival in Las Vegas, so it didn’t have to take any risks with the setup. Hindsight is wonderful, but when there were so many uncertainties regarding race pace due to the lack of long runs and the rain on Friday, playing it safe at ride height was certainly the way to go.

Instead, McLaren can no longer afford to play it safe as Red Bull and Verstappen have been on the attack over the past three months and it’s an approach that is generally paying off so far.

The team’s approach of having their drivers both fight for the title – with rules about how they wanted to do that – has been open to criticism at times this year, but this is not one of those times. This was an operational problem that has nothing to do with driver management, but exposes the duo to the threat of Verstappen.

As the cars all crossed the finish line, it looked like the recent trend of Norris taking control of the championship fight continued. And yet the final surprising twist of the season would come from the stewards’ room in the hours that followed.

Three drivers, 24 points for all, and 58 to play for. Thanks to a few shelves, it’s a real game-on.