Las Vegas Grand Prix shock: Piastri and Norris disqualified, lose their points. Verstappen back in the hunt

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have been disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, blowing the championship race wide open and granting Red Bull rival Max Verstappen a chance to secure his fifth world title.

Verstappen drove flawlessly in Sin City to win the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Norris in second and Piastri in fourth.

However after the race the McLaren duo were summoned to the stewards after the governing FIA reported excessive rear skid block wear on their cars.

An excessively worn skid block allows the car to run lower to the ground and technically gain an advantage and usually results in immediate disqualification.

Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the 2025 Shanghai Grand Prix after the rear skid block on his Ferrari was found to be under the minimum thickness required in the technical regulations.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was disqualified from the Bahrain Grand Prix in April for similar reasons.

The dual disqualification of the McLaren cars left Britain’s Norris on 390 points – 24 clear of four-times world champion Verstappen and Australian Piastri, who are now tied on 366.

There are just two races left in the 2025 season and a maximum of 58 points that can be won. The next race is next weekend in Qatar, followed by the season finale in Abu Dhabi a week later.

Stewards ruled the McLaren drivers after a post-race FIA inspection found the thickness of the plank assembly was less than one tenth of a millimetre below the permitted minimum of 9mm.

The FIA said it strongly believed the breach was unintentional and there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the rules.

“It’s frustrating to lose so many points,” Norris said in a team statement.

“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. Nothing I can do will change that now, instead full focus switches to Qatar, where we’ll aim to go out and deliver the best possible performance in every session.”

In the same statement, Piastri said: “With how close the grid is, we’re always looking at where we can gain performance, and we didn’t get it right this time.”

George Russell, last year’s winner of the floodlit race and like Norris making his 150th start, moved up to second with teammate Kimi Antonelli third after starting 17th on an excellent afternoon for the Italian rookie.

There is an argument to be made that the McLaren disqualification is, in fact, a blessing in disguise for Melbourne-raised Piastri. Before it happened, he was 30 points adrift of his teammate Norris in the race for the drivers’ championship, but now the margin is back to 24 as it was before the Las Vegas misadventure. The only problem is, that Verstappen – is now there with him – after picking up the maximum 25 points.

Formula One championship leader Lando Norris and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri are at risk of disqualification from the Las Vegas Grand Prix after the governing FIA reported excessive rear skid block wear on their cars.

Norris finished second in the race won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with Piastri fourth, so their disqualification and loss of points would blow the championship wide open.

Instead of being 30 points clear, Norris would be 24 points ahead of Verstappen and Piastri with two rounds remaining.

FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer said in a statement that the skid wear of both cars was checked after the race and the rearmost skid measured according to the team’s legality documents submission.

“The measured thickness was less than nine mm on both cars, which is the minimum thickness required,” he added. “I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.”
Norris and Piastri were summoned to stewards.

Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was disqualified from the Bahrain Grand Prix in April for excessive wear of his car’s skid block and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was disqualified in China in March for the same reason.
Reuters

Well, that brings us to the end of today’s blog of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

It certainly was action- and drama-packed. Perhaps the post-race developments more so than on the track.

The upshot of it all is that Max Verstappen – winner of the drivers’ championship for the past four years – is now firmly back in the title race, in equal second place with Australian Oscar Piastri.

Piastri’s teammate Lando Norris remains the leader, but he’s sure to be smarting after today’s disquailfication. How it will affect him over the final two races in the next fortnight remains to be seen.

Good night F1 fans.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has apologised to Norris and Piastri for the lost points and confirmed that both cars suffered damage during the race.

“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,” he said in a statement.

“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.

“As the FIA noted, the breach was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations, and mitigating circumstances also existed.

“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.”

McLaren’s media team have released a statement from Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri after their shock disqualification from the Vegas GP.

Piastri said it was disappointing to come away from the weekend with no points after an “unfortunate disqualification due to skid wear”.

“With how close the grid is, we’re always looking at where we can gain performance, and we didn’t get it right this time,” Piastri said.

“We now need to reset, refocus and push to get the best points possible in the final two rounds, both tracks that we’ve been strong at previously.”

Norris said it was frustrating to lose so many points.

“Nothing I can do will change that now, instead full focus switches to Qatar, where we’ll aim to go out and deliver the best possible performance in every session,” he said.

The stewards’ report gives an insight into how the fine the margins are – and how detailed the testing is – in Formula 1 racing.

It shows the rear skids on Piastri’s vehicle were allowed a minimum thickness of 9mm. But on forensic measuring, they were found to be less than one tenth of a millimetre below that mark.

As Sky Sports observed, the difference – to the human eye, at least – is miniscule; “less than the width of a human hair”.

The FIA – the governing body of global motorsport – has just confirmed the disqualification of the two McLaren cars and explained the reason for its decision.