What Happens in Vegas? A Double Disqualification for McLaren bursts the Championship battle wide open!
Updated: May 2
After what felt like an almost perfect weekend for Championship Leader Lando Norris, his title charge is disrupted by McLaren's mistakes, causing disqualifications for both drivers - so what went so wrong? How much of an impact will this have on the Driver's Championship battle?
Friday at the Las Vegas Street circuit highlighted unexpected Free Practice results from McLaren, finishing P19 and P20 in the final practice before qualifying. McLaren are known to have struggled at this track since its establishment on the F1 Calendar; going into qualifying Norris and Piastri were hoping to finish in the top three for their respective title charges.
Saturday's Las Vegas Qualifying session saw the early exit of Lewis Hamilton, who qualified P20. Ferrari's run of form being poor since the return from summer break still holding true, but this was the worst Ferrari qualifying result since 2009 and Hamilton's worst qualifying result for the seven-time world champion. This year just has not been his year, his transition to Ferrari looking underwhelming and disappointing, unable to deliver consistent performance and results. Ferrari were not the only ones who struggled during qualifying, as Mercedes saw their young rookie Kimi Antonelli starting in P17 with a lot of places to make up.
Qualifying on Saturday morning BST saw Lando Norris lead Max Verstappen by just 0.3 seconds, Carlos Sainz unexpectedly finding himself in the top three, delighting Williams and their fans, with the chance for his second podium of the season. Piastri yet again struggles for pace, only managing to get to P5, behind George Russel. Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar find themselves in P6 and P8, separated by two-time world Champion Fernando Alonso, Leclerc struggling in P9 and a surprise top ten appearance from Pierre Gasly yet again finishing up the top half of the grid.
The Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday morning BST began with a bang right off the line under the Vegas Strip's lights, Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz losing places in the first corner as Max Verstappen and George Russel overtake the pair to find themselves in P1 and P2. Contact between Oscar Piastri and Liam Lawson sent the Racing Bulls driver to the tail-end of the grid, taking away any chances of him scoring valuable points.
Turn one saw all the incidences happening, Lance Stroll being taken out by Gabrielle Bortoletto, attempting to overtake the Aston Martin saw both drivers out of the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Kimi Antonelli also has difficulties before he could even get started, slapped with a five-second penalty for a wheel-roll on the start line, undetected without slow-motion reviews already seeing the young driver in trouble in addition to being at the back of the grid.
The rest of the race leading up to the final laps were pretty quiet, in the background Kimi Antonelli and Lewis Hamilton rising up through the rankings through grit and determination to get into the points. Charles Leclerc also made up valuable positions, sitting in P6 in front of Carlos Sainz who lost out a few positions. Kimi Antonelli with fourteen impressive overtakes climbed his way up to fourth place, behind George Russel who lost out to Lando Norris, who now sat in P2.
Max Verstappen comfortably led the race, eventually finishing first with a hefty twenty-second lead on the Championship leader who later reported was having some issues with the car, allowing George Russel to convert his gap to him to just over two-seconds. If that was where the weekend ended, Lando Norris would have 408 points, Piastri would have been second with 378 and Max Verstappen would have 366 points, catching The Australian Driver even more.
However, things took a negative turn for McLaren.
Following the podium celebration, McLaren were pulled into a two-hour long meeting with the FIA, resulting in a disqualification of both McLaren drivers. In the document, the car infringement was said to have been the following:
"The minimum thickness of 9mm specified under Article 3.5.9 of the Technical Regulations.
"The rear skids were re-measured in the presence of the Stewards and the three McLaren representatives, and those measurements confirmed that the skids did not comply with the regulations. The relevant measurements were even lower than those measured originally by the Technical Delegate."
While McLaren had tried to argue their case, the FIA still dismissed it, but noted that they believed the infringement was "unintentional." However, the Guardian explained that McLaren were aware of the possibility that the skids were under the guidelines:
"They were aware, it appears, of how close they were to the edge. Late in the race, Norris was instructed to adopt a lift‑and‑coast approach to his driving, i.e. coming off the throttle before the end of the straights. At the time it was assumed there was a need for saving fuel, but it seems it was to minimise wear to the skid block, which the team knew to be on the limit."
This does explain why Lando Norris slowed right down into the last few laps of the race, growing the gap to the race leader and allowing George Russel to close the gap much quicker than before.
Following the disqualification, both McLaren drivers expressed their disappointment and the impact that it would have on their Championship battles. Lando Norris spoken in length about this:
"A frustrating end to today. 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," said Norris, who is looking to become Britain's 11th F1 world champion.
"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."
Oscar Piastri also spoke about how this would affect his Championship chances, whose fourth place position taken away due to the disqualification:
"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."
The elimination of the McLarens saw the promotion of many different drivers. Mercedes ended the weekend with a double podium finish, despite his five-second penalty Kimi Antonelli pulled his way through, highlighting his incredible abilities and affirming his place in the F1 world. Charles Leclerc, who finished 6th originally, ended up in 4th place and Hamilton ended up in 8th, giving relief to a Ferrari team struggling to score good points as of recent. Carlos Sainz was promoted to P5, another great result for him and Williams, Hadjar and Hulkenberg up to P6 and P7. Haas earned some valuable points, moved up to P9 and P10, Ollie Bearman again going another weekend with points for the Haas Formula 1 Team.
In the Championship battle, Max Verstappen closes the gap to Oscar Piastri, who now find themselves level on points. Going to Qatar, the next race of the triple-header ending the F1 Championship, Lando Norris could win it all if he outscores both Verstappen and Piastri by two points only. With a Sprint race and a Grand Prix, it is all to play for - anyone could win the 2025 Formula 1 Drivers Championship!
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