Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich / EPA
Lando Norris in the box at McLaren at GP Las Vegas
The two McLarens, Norris and Piastri, were disqualified. There are two Grands Prix left and 24 points separate the top three.
Las Vegas Grand Prix, already in the final stretch of the championship Formula 1: Max Verstappen wins. But the two competitors in the fight for the title, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (both McLaren) are respectively in the 2nd and 4th places.
Thus, the Red Bull driver had only managed to recover 7 points from the championship leader, Lando Norris. There would be 408 points for Norris, 378 for Piastri and 366 for Verstappen.
But, about four hours after the race, these accounts changed substantially.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were disqualifiedfor violating technical regulations.
The duo saw the result officially annulled after measurements carried out on their single-seaters revealed excessive wear on the bottom contact boardwith the stewards concluding that both cars did not meet the minimum of 9 millimeters required by the standard.
In a statement, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said that the mediations were carried out “in the presence of the stewards and the three McLaren representatives, and these measurements confirmed that they were not in accordance with the regulations”.
McLaren argued that there were extenuating circumstances, including limited opportunities to test due to bad weather on the first day and practice sessions shortened by track conditions.
Although the stewards rejected the team’s arguments, they added that “the FIA firmly considered that the infringement was not intentional and that there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations”.
In this way, Max Verstappen sees the distance to the championship leader, Lando Norris, shortened to 24 points (not 42), tying with Piastri in second place, both with 366.
With two GPs and a Sprint to compete, the top three classified are separated by just 24 points – when the winner of a Grand Prix becomes 25.
Next weekend the Qatar GP will be held.
