McLaren team boss Andrea Stella (photo above) afterwards apologized to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both drivers were disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
At the end of the race in Las Vegas, the two McLaren cars were found to have excessive plank wear, with the FIA noting “that it strongly believes that the infringement was unintentional and that there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations.” Since violation of the technical regulations was punishable by disqualification in most cases, Norris was excluded from second place and Piastri lost fourth place.
Due to the disqualifications, Norris’ lead over Piastri remains at 24 points (originally this would grow to 30 points) and Max Verstappen is level with Piastri, who won the race. Stella explained the reasons McLaren outlined as the possible causes of the board wear and acknowledged the impact on both drivers given the title picture.
“After the Las Vegas Grand Prix it was found that we had violated Article 3.5.9 of the technical regulations, which requires a minimum skid thickness of 9mm,” said Stella. “Car 4 [Norris] it was found that there was an intrusion of up to 0.12 mm from the rear skid and car 81 [Piastri] by a maximum of 0.26 mm from the rear slip.
“During the race, both cars experienced unexpected, high levels of porpoising that we did not see in the practice sessions, which led to excessive contact with the ground. We are investigating the reasons for this car behavior, including the effect of accidental damage sustained by both cars, which we discovered after the race and which led to an increase in floor movement.”
“As the FIA noted, the infringement was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations and there were also extenuating circumstances.
“We apologize to Lando and Oscar for the loss of points today, at a crucial time in their championship campaigns after two strong performances from them all weekend. As a team, we also apologize to our partners and fans, whose support means so much.”
“Although this outcome is extremely disappointing, we remain fully focused on the final two races of the season.”
Both McLaren drivers, along with Lewis Hamilton (China) and Nico Hulkenberg (Bahrain), are disqualified from races due to excessive board wear this season, while both Hamilton – then at Mercedes – and Charles Leclerc suffered the same fate at the Circuit of The Americas in 2023.
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