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Flute playing under light show is the first sign that something is wrong vegas The strip came in the last three laps. out of nowhere, why was it lando norrisIs the speed falling at the rate of knots? Safely in second place, seven seconds behind the race leader, Norris eventually finished 23 seconds behind max verstappenNow, we know why,
Norris’s Sudden disqualification from Las Vegas Grand PrixIt was announced after 1.30 am local time that he had handed over his charge. f1 Title rivals get the biggest relief. The irony is that double mclaren dsq – together oscar piastriresult of the race deleted for the same reasonExcessive plank wear on the car – a much needed saving grace for the Aussie. His deficit was 30 points; It is now back to the original 24 points.
But the biggest beneficiary by a country mile is Verstappen: a man and a driver whose refusal to surrender has breathed new life into this complex title battle. A spectacular victory from second place on the grid in Vegas, combined with Nada leading the points table for the McLaren pair, means he is now level on points with Piastri – a man he was 104 points short of as recently as seven races ago.
No doubt, it will be the indomitable Dutchman chasing a fifth consecutive title whom Norris now seriously fears, unlike teammate Piastri.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella later apologized to his drivers in a statement, and canceled his customary post-race written media session amid an uproar in the stewards room. A source has told Independent The McLaren personnel pleaded their case for over an hour, such was the magnitude of the decision at this stage of the season. Inevitably, to no avail.
The papaya-wearing team argued that unexpected porpoising – This phenomenon was seen for the first time in 2022 where the cars bounced violently up and down the straights – as well as Thursday night’s wet race and short practice sessions were mitigating circumstances for their cars to breach hyper-specific F1 technical rules.
All valid reasons – but these are black and white rules. The minimum thickness of the skid plank under the car cannot fall below the 9mm limit. When rechecked at post-race inspection, Norris’s car was found to be 0.12 mm over the limit and Piastri’s was found to be 0.26 mm over the limit. In fact, it is the width of a human hair. But in a sport decided by marginal gains – milliseconds are crucial in the world of Formula One – this is quite significant and was a slam-dunk illegal car.
“A disappointing finish to today,” Norris said in quotes from McLaren on the night in Vegas. “We had to manage something towards the end of the race and now we know it was due to some problems with our car.
“It’s disappointing to lose so many points. As a team, we’re always pushing to perform as well as possible, and today we clearly didn’t achieve that balance.”
And in that latter comment lies the inexcusable basis of McLaren’s double boycott. Rules are in place so that teams do not run their cars too close to the ground, both from a safety standpoint for the drivers and from a performance advantage for the cars. All teams have to find balance, and this weekend McLaren messed up in the search for performance.
And it’s an all-time mess in the crunch time of the title race. Lewis Hamilton has also been disqualified twice in the last two years – once with Mercedes in 2023, once with Ferrari in March – for similar mechanical irregularities. Both took place on a sprint-race weekend, which, along with more meaningful sessions, is the primary excuse for plank-wearing, making it difficult to judge.
But McLaren doesn’t have even that to show for it this time. At this stage of the season, it is simply inexcusable that they would take an overly aggressive stance at the height of the ride, given what is at stake. Last month in Austin, he was very conservative on his ride height after losing data from sprint race retirement. In Vegas, they put it in red, and it turned black.
It’s a blow to the fresh-faced Norris, who had one hand on the championship trophy. Of course, 24 points is still a huge advantage and, depending on the sprint race, victory in Qatar next Sunday could seal a first title for the 26-year-old from Bristol. But it’s no longer just a matter of breathing down Piastri’s neck.
Shark-like Verstappen can taste blood. He’ll be the guy who leaves Sin City feeling like he hit the jackpot. If McLaren somehow loses the drivers’ title here, Vegas will undoubtedly be a disastrous turning point on which they will look back.
Do they now, with two rounds and 58 points left on the table, finally decide to move on and prioritize Norris? It won’t happen – but it should.
top 3 , F1 World Championship
1. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 390 points
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 366 points
3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 366 points