A victory in the Las Vegas Grand Prix, coupled with post-race disqualifications for both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, bolstered Max Verstappen’s chances of taking home a fifth Drivers’ Championship at the conclusion of the Formula 1 season.
Verstappen started second in Saturday night’s race, with Norris in front of him in pole position. When the lights went out, Norris immediately went aggressive, cutting left from his spot on the grid to try to close off Verstappen on the inside line. But the McLaren driver missed his braking point and went wide into Turn 1, opening the door for Verstappen to seize the lead, followed by George Russell. Norris shuffled back into P3 as Verstappen slowly pulled away from the field.
Norris eventually caught Russell during the second stint of the race to come across the line second, but could not reel in Verstappen as he was forced to ease off the throttle as McLaren noted an issue with his car. Piastri crossed the line fifth, but was promoted to fourth after a five-second penalty was handed down to Kimi Antonelli who finished in front of him.
But the drama was just beginning.
The first sign that something was amiss came when there was a delay in the final classification report from the FIA race stewards. Coupled with reports from the paddock of another issue with Norris’ MCL39, rumors began to swirl.
Finally, the reports came from the FIA. Both McLarens had failed a post-race inspection, with technical delegates finding excessive plank wear, and the matter was referred to race officials. According to the Technical Delegate’s Report (Document 53) “[t]he rearmost skid was measured on both cars according to the team’s legality documents submission in accordance with TD039 M, item 1.2 b) i). The measured thickness was less than 9 mm on both cars, which is the minimum thickness required by TR Article 3.5.9 e).“
A hearing was held for both Norris and Piastri, during which it was outlined that the plank — a composite on the floor of F1 cars to help regulate ride height implemented as part of the safety changes made in the sport — measured 8.88 mm at the front and 8.93 mm at the rear on Norris’ MCL39, and 8.74 mm at the front and 8.90 mm at the rear of Piastri’s car.
McLaren accepted the measurements at the hearing, and stressed that there were “mitigating” factors. Specifically, the team argued that “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 1, and shortened practice sessions. Further the Team submitted that the degree of the breach was lower than prior breaches of this regulation in 2025.“
Race officials “strongly held the view that the breach was unintentional and that there was not [a] deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations.” However, race officials also noted that there is no provision in the regulations, nor any prior precedent, to implement any penalty other than the standard for infractions of technical regulations such as this one.
That penalty: Disqualification.
After the decision, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella apologized to both Norris and Piastri.
”During the race, both cars experienced unexpected, high levels of porpoising not seen in the Practice sessions, which led to excessive contact with the ground. We are investigating the reasons for this behaviour of the car, including the effect of accidental damage sustained by both cars, which we found after the race, and that led to an increase of movement of the floor,” began Stella.
”As the FIA noted, the breach was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations, and mitigating circumstances also existed,” continued the McLaren boss. “We apologise to Lando and Oscar for the loss of points today, at a critical time in their Championship campaigns after two strong performances from them all weekend. As a team, we also apologise to our partners and fans, whose support means so much.
“While this outcome is extremely disappointing, we remain fully focused on the last two races of the season.”
This is not the first time drivers have been disqualified for excessive plank wear. Both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were disqualified at the 2023 United States Grand Prix for this issue.
Prior to the double disqualification, the state of play in the Drivers’ Championship race looked like this based on the provisional classification:
Lando Norris: 408 points
Oscar Piastri: 378 points (-30)
Max Verstappen: 366 points (-42)
But with the disqualification, the picture has changed dramatically. As the grid heads to Qatar for the penultimate race week of the season — and the final F1 Sprint race of the 2025 campaign — here is how the top three drivers sit in the standings:
Lando Norris: 390 points
Oscar Piastri: 366 points (-24)
Max Verstappen: 366 points (-24)
Norris can still clinch the Drivers’ Championship next weekend, provided he leaves Qatar with a 26-point lead over both Piastri and Norris.
Otherwise, this three-way fight will head to Yas Marina and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the final race of the year.
