Lando Norris breaks silence on ‘frustrating’ Las Vegas GP disqualification

Lando Norris admits his disqualification from the Las Vegas Grand Prix is ‘frustrating’ as his world championship bid took an extraordinary setback.

The Brit and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri were stripped of their second and fourth-placed finishes for driving cars that breached F1 rules.

Norris had finished as runner-up to Max Verstappen in Vegas to put him 42 points clear of the Dutchman in the title race with just 58 points to play for.

But the McLaren cars breached regulations around the thickness of the skid block on the floor of the car – and the points have now been lost – completely changing the F1 title race picture with just two races left.

‘A frustrating end to today,’ Norris, looking to win his first-ever F1 title, said following his disqualification, which has given Verstappen a huge boost.

‘We had to do some managing towards the end of the race and now we know it was due to some issues on our car, which have unfortunately resulted in us being disqualified. 

‘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. 

‘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.’

The disqualification of the McLaren duo means Norris leads Piastri and Verstappen by 24 points before the final events in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Quizzed for his own thoughts on the disqualifications, Piastri said: ‘Disappointing to come away from this 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. 

‘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.’

McLaren team principal apologises to Norris and Piastri

‘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,’ McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said.

‘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.’

In F1, there is a rule over the skid blocks that sit underneath the car to try and stop plank wear, which cannot be worn out to less than 9mm.

The front right hand-side skid block on Norris’ car was 8.88m and his right rear was 8.93mm – which meant the car failed post-race technical checks.

Piastri, meanwhile, had three illegal measurements and McLaren tried to argue over the ruling on both drivers before the stewards dismissed them.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has put out a statement to apologise 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,’ he said.

‘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.

‘While this outcome is extremely disappointing, we remain fully focused on the last two races of the season.’

Attentions now turn towards the Qatar GP this coming week before the season-finale in Abu Dhabi from December 5 to December 7.

A Sprint will take place in Qatar this Saturday, meaning 58 points are still available in the F1 title race.