Norris stripped of Las Vegas P2 as McLaren double DSQ shakes up title run-in
Under the neon lights of Las Vegas, Lando Norris walked away with nothing but frustration and a slimmer margin in the championship fight. Hours after finishing second to Max Verstappen on Sunday night, both McLarens were thrown out of the results for excessive plank wear — a black‑and‑white technical breach with no wiggle room.
The penalty stung. Norris’ runner-up finish would have stretched his lead to 30 points over Oscar Piastri, with Verstappen 42 back and only two rounds left. Instead, the disqualification cuts his advantage to 24 points — now over both Piastri and Verstappen — with the title picture taking on a cooler, sharper edge just when McLaren could least afford it.
“Frustrating,” Norris said, summing up a long night that turned on a few hundredths of a millimetre. “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… nothing I can do will change that now. Full focus switches to Qatar.”
The FIA’s scrutineering sheet told the tale: Norris’ plank measured 0.07mm and 0.12mm under the required 9mm thickness at its designated points. That might sound like a rounding error, but the rule is absolute. If the skid block wears beyond the tolerance, you’re out. And in Vegas, McLaren were out twice.
Team principal Andrea Stella didn’t hide behind it. He apologised to both drivers after confirming the MCL’s unexpectedly violent porpoising in race trim was to blame — behaviour the team says wasn’t present in practice.
“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,” Stella explained. “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.”
It’s a bitter twist for a squad that had looked composed and quick on a tricky street circuit. Ride height is a constant gamble on bumpy, high-speed tracks: lower is faster, right up until it isn’t. Add a car suddenly bouncing over the surface for two hours and you start sanding away at that plank. Vegas demanded the fine print, and the fine print bit.
The timing isn’t subtle. Verstappen’s win, coupled with Norris’ DSQ, effectively halves the reigning champion’s deficit with two races to go — suddenly restoring jeopardy to a title chase that Norris had been controlling. He’s still favourite to close this out, but the margin for error has narrowed and the calendar isn’t taking a breath.
Qatar is next, and it’s a Sprint weekend at Lusail — the final short-form outing of the season — meaning two scoring opportunities and two chances for this fight to swing again. McLaren will have to box clever. There’s no hiding from the fact that set-up choices in Vegas, even if made in good faith, left their title bid exposed. Expect ride heights and porpoising tools to be under the microscope in papaya this week.
Norris kept his head in the aftermath. “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,” he said. “We’ll aim to go out and deliver the best possible performance in every session [in Qatar].”
The sporting side is simple; the emotional side less so. Being told that second place under the Las Vegas glare has vanished because the wooden plank under your car wore down by a hair’s breadth is the sort of thing that tests a driver’s patience. But these are the rules everyone signs up to, and with a title on the line, the only move now is forward.
Two rounds. One Sprint. A 24-point cushion over two sharks circling at the same distance. Norris still has the hand — but Vegas just reminded him how quickly fortunes can flip.
