TL;DR
- Max Verstappen wins Las Vegas GP after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri disqualified.
- FIA found significant abrasion on McLaren's rear skid blocks, causing disqualification.
- Norris and Piastri lose all race points, impacting 2025 drivers' championship standings.
- McLaren expressed displeasure but will not challenge the disqualification ruling.
Max Verstappen has won big in Vegas thanks to the double disqualification of his McLaren rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Following an investigation, the FIA announced a surprising ruling due to significant abrasion discovered on the rear skid blocks of both McLaren vehicles. This decision resulted in Norris being demoted from second and Piastri from fourth, thereby profoundly impacting the 2025 drivers' championship standings with only two races left.
McLaren has since released a statement voiced displeasure regarding the result, which causes both drivers to forfeit all race points, though it appears no challenge will be mounted, at least for the time being.
“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,” explained McLaren team boss Andrea Stella.
MORE: F1 standings 2025: Driver and constructor points
We're looking into why the car acted this way, considering the accidental damage both vehicles had, which we discovered post-race and resulted in increased floor movement.
“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.”
Lando Norris expressed regret, stating, "We clearly didn’t get that balance right today."
Without question, the primary casualty of the DQ ruling is Lando Norris, the current leader in the 2025 drivers' championship, whose advantage over a revitalized Max Verstappen has shrunk to a mere 24 points.
“It’s frustrating to lose so many points. 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,” Norris commented.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren's teammate, shared a similar level of frustration, recognizing the incredibly narrow differences that separate triumph from defeat in Formula One.
“Disappointing … given 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.
Despite both McLaren drivers being disqualified, the outcome of the race means Piastri is now closer to Norris in the drivers' championship standings than he was upon finishing the Las Vegas race.