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Laurence Edmondson
LAS VEGAS — Just over three hours after Lando Norris crossed the line in second place at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, both his car and that of McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri were disqualified from the results.
Wear on the plank — a strip of composite material on the underside of a Formula 1 car — was found to be beyond the permitted amount, leaving the stewards with no choice but to strike both from the final classification.
On Norris’ car, the wear was 0.12 millimeters over the limit, and on Piastri’s, it was 0.26. To put that in context, the width of the average human hair is between 0.17 to 0.181 millimeters, raising the possibility that Norris could quite literally miss out on the title by less than a hair’s width if Saturday night’s race winner, Max Verstappen, beats him to the title by 18 points or less at the end of the year.
Confirmation of the disqualifications, issued by the stewards at 1:42 a.m. PT on Sunday, meant the 30-point lead Norris thought he held over Piastri and the 42-point lead he thought he had on Verstappen were reduced to 24 points to both ahead of next weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix. While still a healthy margin, it is far less comfortable than it seemed when he stood in front of the Bellagio fountains clutching his second-place trophy.
Why were the cars disqualified?
Lewis Hamilton was disqualified for the same infringement, albeit with plank wear that was 0.5 millimeters beyond the amount permitted.
Why was McLaren running its car so low?
The current generation of F1 cars are extremely sensitive to ride height. Every millimeter lower to the ground the car runs, the more it seals and energizes the flow of air passing under the car. The fast-moving air between the floor of the car and the track surface creates low pressure, known as ground effect, that essentially sucks the car to the track, providing a large amount of the downforce that allows an F1 car to corner at such mind-bending speeds.
Every race weekend, teams search for the perfect ride height in order to find the balance between maximizing the aerodynamic performance of the floor while ensuring plank wear remains at legal levels. Although simulations provide a starting point for ride height settings, teams rely heavily on track running during practice to make a final decision before locking in the car’s final setup ahead of qualifying.
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«As the FIA noted, the breach was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations, and mitigating circumstances also existed.»
There were signs McLaren was aware of the problem during the race after Norris’ race engineer told him to lift off the throttle and coast at the end of straights. By doing so, McLaren hoped Norris would reduce the peak aerodynamic load at the end of the straights and minimize the wear to the floor when it was running closest to the ground. Despite lapping more than 3.5 seconds off the pace at times, ultimately Norris’ efforts did not go far enough.
«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,» Norris said in a statement issued by McLaren. «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.»
McLaren apologizes to its drivers
Although Norris now enters the final two races of the season with less of a points buffer than he’d hoped, he is still the clear favorite for the title. He has a gap of 24 points over his two closets rivals, and if he can increase it to 26 or more by the end of the Qatar Grand Prix next weekend, he will guarantee that he will be crowned champion there and then.
Meanwhile, Piastri, who has struggled for performance at recent races, saw his deficit to his teammate cut as a result of the disqualification. It might not be enough to overcome his loss of form, but it gives him more of an opportunity than he would have had if both McLarens had been found legal.
Verstappen is undoubtedly the biggest winner as he looked set to be eliminated from the title race in Qatar had the initial result of the McLarens stood. Now a finish ahead of Norris and Piastri in next weekend’s sprint race and grand prix will ensure he remains in contention up until the final round in Abu Dhabi.
