Just when it looked like Lando Norris had one hand on the 2025 Formula One drivers’ championship, the bombshell that both the team’s cars had been disqualified came late in the night in Las Vegas.

Both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were disqualified for running their cars at an illegal ride height, measure by the wear on the underfloor ‘plank.’ The FIA regulations state that the skid block m must be 10mm at the start of the Grand Prix and no more than 9mm come the end of the race.

And the margins were not close. Norris ‘plank’ was 0.12mm under the limit on the right hand side, representing more than 10% of the margin of wear allowed. Piastri’s in the same place was 0.26mm under – more than 25% more than the 1mm allowance.

 

 

 

Leclerc revealed Ferrari plank wear issues

Ferrari have struggled with ‘plank’ wear due to their suspension design all season, with Lewis Hamilton being famously disqualified in the Chinese Grand Prix after wining the Sprint the day before. One of the solutions is for the driver to ‘lift and coast’ (Lico) into the big braking zones which means lifting from the throttle much earlier than the standard braking point and trailing the brakes gently into the corner.

Plank wear cost Charles Leclerc a good shot at winning the Hungarian Grand Prix when leading the race comfortably, Ferrari upped his tyre pressures at the final round of pit stops. This raised the height of the car to prevent excessive skid block wear, but cost the driver almost a second a lap as his grip levels were much reduced due to the higher pressures.

Leclerc realised what the team had done without telling him and was furious on team radio. “This is so incredibly frustrating,” Leclerc reported to his race engineer. “We’ve lost all competitiveness. You just have to listen to me. I would have found a different way of managing those issues. Now it’s just undrivable. Undrivable. It’s a miracle if we finish on the podium.”

The Monegasque driver was referring to the LICO actions he had used previously when plank wear was a concern, which prevents the car from diving at the front and scraping the ground due to less pressure being applied to the brakes.

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McLaren knew of ride height problem pre-GP

Radio messages not broadcast by the world feed now confirm McLaren knew their cars were in trouble and they deceived their drivers suggesting there were tyre wear issues. On lap five Will Joesph told Norris: “And suggest slightly more lift, turn six, turn 11.”

The reason McLaren had not discovered their cars were in jeopardy was due to the lack of runs ing in FP2 where the teams regularly perform their long run race simulations. Red Flags wiped out almost the entire final 20 minutes of the session and then on Saturday morning the problem was compounded by the session being wet.

In the wet the F1 cars are not travelling as quickly and therefore the braking is less excessive along with plank wear. Yet it appears McLaren had concerns even before the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, but didn’t communicate this to the drivers.

“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,” claimed team principal Andrea Stella. Yet Jospeh’s early message on lap five to Norris would suggest the team would have known of the issue during the reconnaissance laps prior to the start of the Grand Prix.

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Tyres presented as LICO reason

Oscar Piastri’s engineer was on to it a lap later than Will Joesph as on lap 5 he advised the Aussie driver, “Car behind is now Leclerc. Suggest earlier deeper lift in turn 10 if possible.” On lap eight Lando was again reminded to LICO, his response suggested it was due to pre-race concerns McLaren had over their tyres graining.

“And Lando strat seven, please, strat seven. Ideally do a small lift in turn 17, turn five, turn 12, please,” Joesph again advised. Norris responded: “Yeah, I mean the fronts are looking a little bit worse. That’s still what I’m afraid of.”

Joseph continued the deception by responding to inform his driver of his rivals tyre wear. “And Lando we think you’re in a similar position to Verstaopen – Russell,  if anything slightly better, but only a small amount.” Lando then queried which tyre his engineer was talking about, the repose came quickly from Joseph “front.”

Norris was encouraged to LICO regularly even before George Russell pitted on lap 17.

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Piastri less instructions due to traffic

Presumably because he was in traffic and unable to travel at full pace, Oscar Piastri was instructed to LICO far less than his team mate. But he too was deceived on lap 27/28 with messages from his engineer Tom Stollard who related the instruction to tyre wear considerations.

“Oscar you can phase out the lift in 10, but keep the lift in 11,” came the instruction.” The reason, “Turn three, earlier lifts to protect the fronts.” Of course the team were becoming increasingly aware of the plank wear, but didn’t advise the drivers out of concern their rivals and the FIA wold pick up on it.

Not every car is scrutinised following a Grand Prix and McLaren may have hoped their errors might go unnoticed by Joe Baur the FIA’s head of scrutineering. Yet the dramatic end to the race which saw Norris given further and more dramatic LICO instructions would have clearly piqued the interest of the FIA.

Lando lost around ten seconds to Max Verstappen over the closing laps, as his LICO instructions became more frequent and urgent. The impression given was there were concerns over Norris having sufficient fuel to finish the race and provide a sample to the FIA, but nothing could have been further from the truth.

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Norris confused by radio message

The deception continued as Norris found himself behind George Russell after his pit stop, where Will Joseph told him to go flat out and take the position and then get after Verstappen.

Closing in quickly on the Mercedes who had pitted some 15 laps earlier, Norris questioned: “Has George grained or what? Did he complain?” The response from his engineer was that Mercedes had asked their driver to do more tyre saving and “Overtake him. Overtake him. We’re going to go get Max. An early overtake is available,” advised Joseph.

Norris duly passed Russel and was congratulated but warned to still LICO: “Terrific mate. Right, let’s go get Max but continue with 17, 5 and 11.” Yet he seemed confused at the instruction to “get Max” given the repeated instructions he was getting to LICO which made him slow.

Lap 36 Norris questioned his instructions: “What do you mean get Max? We’re just slow.” The reposes came: “They’ve told Max to reduce all management. And we’re not slow. Our last lap was faster than him.”

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McLaren team boss subdued post race interviews

Norris was then advised on how to drive certain corners, again in an effort to reduce the car hitting the ground and wearing the plank. “Lando, opportunity. If we can carry more minimum in turn one to allow us to open the line in turn three, it might help the throttle on the exit of three. And reminder overtake 14, every lap.”

The overtake instruction was to deploy the electrical energy in an attempt to m mitigate the time lost while he was lifting and coasting. Yet it was all for naught.

Andrea Stella in his usual post race interview appeared distracted and relatively concise – which is unusual for the normaly talkative Italian. Clearly the team knew by then they were in trouble and the instruction to drop his pace to around two seconds a lap slower than Verstappen over the final five laps – indicated to the FIA there was big trouble in little China.

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Piastri quietly smiling after the DSQ’s

What is surpassing is that the McLaren driver’s were not informed of the potential ride height problems after their recognisance laps. But then again as Leclerc demonstrated in Hungary, a driver can know too much and reveal the team’s problems over the radio to competitors and the FIA.

Oscar Piastri may be quietly smiling to himself over the double DSQ for the Mclaren cars in Las Vegas, given he is 6 points better off than had the race result stood.

Meanwhile Max Verstappen is now level with Oscar Piastri, whom he trailed by 104 points just seven race weekends ago after the Aussies dominant win in Zandvoort. He is just 24 points behind Lando Norris and could the greatest ever F1 comeback in history be realised in Abu Dhabi in just over two weeks time?

 

 

 

Hamilton “rookie mistake” saw him P20 in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton is breaking records left right and centre this season, but for all the wrong reasons. The seven times Formula One world champion is heading for his first ever season without finishing on the podium.

Further, he is now the Ferrari driver who has failed to make the podium for the longest number of Grand Prix. The previous record was eighteen.

The latest debacle in Hamilton’s Ferrari experience came in Las Vegas when for the first time in his career he has qualified last for performance reasons only. On his way back to the pits, Lewis reported over the radio, “Sorry. I just couldn’t get the tyres working.”…. read more