Autobayng News Team
McLaren have suffered a serious blow after the Las Vegas Grand Prix as both their cars have been disqualified.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who originally finished second and fourth respectively, have been thrown out of the results after both cars failed the same legality check.
A post-race inspection found the rear skid blocks were worn beneath the legal limit on the two MCL39s. FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer stated: “The rearmost skid was measured on both cars according to the team’s legality documents submission” and “the measured thickness was less than 9mm on both cars, which is the minimum thickness required.”
After summoning the team’s representatives to a hearing, the stewards confirmed both cars had been disqualified.
The FIA’s measurements found both cars’ planks were excessively worn on the right-hand side at the front and rear. Norris’s measured 8.88mm and 8.93mm respectively, Piastri’s 8.96mm and 8.74mm, plus 8.96mm on the front-left.
When the planks were re-measured at a hearing at which the McLaren representatives were present, they were found to be even thinner.
The FIA also measured the planks of the other eight cars which originally finished in the top 10 and found none were in breach of the rules.
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McLaren told the FIA they had experienced an unexpected degree of ‘porpoising’ at the race. They pointed out that wet conditions on Friday plus the shortening of Thursday’s second practice session had limited their opportunity to address the problem.
However the stewards did not accept this argument in mitigation. “The FIA argued that unfortunately there was no provision in the regulations or in precedent for any penalty other than the usual penalty (i.e. disqualification),” they noted. “The FIA noted that it strongly held the view that the breach was unintentional and that there was not [a] deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations.
“The stewards also note the various decisions of the FIA International Court of Appeal which limit the ability to avoid disqualification for technical breaches.”
The verdict has a significant impact on the fight for the drivers’ world championship. Norris enjoyed a 30-point lead over Piastri and 42-point margin over Max Verstappen when today’s race finished.
But McLaren’s double disqualification cuts Norris’s lead over both drivers to 24 points. The result is a huge boost for Verstappen, who arrived in Las Vegas 49 points behind Norris.
The stewards’ decision has handed more points to several of their rivals. George Russell moves up to second place and is joined on the podium by his team mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
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As the other finishers behind them all move up two places, the Haas drivers have been promoted to the final points-scoring places. Esteban Ocon takes ninth ahead of Oliver Bearman.
Two drivers were disqualified from races earlier this year due to excessive wear on the underside of their cars. Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the second round in China for excessive floor wear and Sauber driver Nico Hulkenberg was disqualified for the same reason two rounds later in Bahrain.
The stewards’ explanation for Norris’s disqualification
The decision on Piastri was identical except for the identifying details of the car and the plank thickness measurements:
The stewards heard from the team principal, team sporting director and technical director of McLaren Formula 1 Team, the FIA single seater director, the FIA single seater technical director and the FIA Technical Delegate.
The rear skids of car four [Norris] were measured and found to be below the minimum thickness of 9mm specified under Article 3.5.9 of the technical regulations. The relevant measurements were RHS Front 8.88mm, RHS Rear 8.93mm. The measuring device was a Mitutoyo Micrometre purchased in May 2025, and according to the manufacturer’s specifications, accurate to within 0.001mm.
The rear skids were re-measured in the presence of the stewards and the three McLaren representatives, and those measurements confirmed that the skids did not comply with the regulations. The relevant measurements were even lower than those measured originally by the technical delegate.
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Accordingly the stewards determine that a breach of the technical regulations [has] occurred. The stewards then heard submissions on penalty.
The team argued that mitigating circumstances existed in that there was additional and unexpected porpoising at this event, limited opportunity to test due to the weather on day one, and shortened practice sessions. Further the [team] submitted that the degree of the breach was lower than prior breaches of this regulation in 2025.
The FIA argued that unfortunately there was no provision in the regulations or in precedent for any penalty other than the usual penalty (i.e. disqualification). The FIA noted that it strongly held the view that the breach was unintentional and that there was not [a] deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations.
The stewards also note the various decisions of the FIA International Court of Appeal which limit the ability to avoid disqualification for technical breaches. Notwithstanding the submission by the Team that there was potentially accidental damage that may have led to movement of the floor which could have caused additional wear, the stewards do not consider this sufficient to mitigate the penalty.
The stewards determine that Article 3.5.9 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty of a disqualification needs to be applied for such an infringement.
Updated: 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix race result and championship points
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2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix
- How Hulkenberg out-ran Hamilton for the third time this year: Interactive data
- Tsunoda sure he’s improving: ‘Multiple times I was ahead of Max in performance runs’
- Albon “surprised” by penalty for Hamilton collision
- The McLaren radio messages which show how they tried to manage plank wear
- McLaren apologise to Norris and Piastri for double disqualification
