McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella (Photo above) He later apologized to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Both drivers were disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix..
Both McLaren cars were found to have excessively worn plates at the end of the race in Las Vegas, and the FIA said it was of the “strong view that the breach was unintentional and that there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations”. Violations of technical rules almost always result in disqualification, so Norris was removed from second place, leaving Piastri in fourth place.
Due to this disqualification, the point difference between Norris and Piastri was originally scheduled to increase to 30 points, but it remained at 24 points, meaning that Max Verstappen was tied on points with Piastri winning. Explaining what McLaren has outlined as a potential cause for the plate wear, Stella acknowledged the impact on both drivers in light of the title photo.
“Following the Las Vegas Grand Prix, it was discovered that Article 3.5.9 of the Technical Regulations, which requires a minimum skid thickness of 9mm, had been violated,” Stella said. “We found damage of up to 0.12mm in the rearmost skid of car No. 4 (Norris), and up to 0.26mm in the rearmost skid of car No. 81 (Piastri).
“During the race, both cars experienced an unexpectedly high level of porpoise that was not seen in the practice session, leading to excessive contact with the ground. We are investigating the causes of this behavior, including the effects of accidental damage to both cars that was discovered after the race, which led to increased floor movement.”
“As the FIA pointed out, the violation was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations and there were mitigating circumstances.
“We would like to apologize to Lando and Oscar for losing points today at such a critical time in our championship campaign, after two great performances throughout the weekend.As a team, we also apologize to our partners and fans, whose support has meant so much to us.”
“We are very disappointed with this result, but we remain fully focused on the final two races of the season.”
Both McLaren drivers follow in the footsteps of Lewis Hamilton (China) and Nico Hulkenberg (Bahrain), who were disqualified from races this season due to excessive plank wear, and Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, then with Mercedes, also suffered the same fate at the 2023 Circuit of the Americas.
