Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have accepted their “frustrating” double disqualification from the Las Vegas Grand Prix due to skid wear issues on their McLaren F1 car.
In a dramatic twist to the F1 title race, Norris and Piastri were disqualified from the race after finishing second and fourth respectively, giving a huge boost to race winner Max Verstappen, The Independent reported.
Following an FIA investigation, Norris and Piastri were punished for an illegal post-race car, with the thickness of the plank, which is underneath the car, below the required 9mm thickness as per the FIA regulations.
The decision means both Norris will head into the penultimate race of the F1 season with a lead of 24 points over both Piastri and Verstappen, who dramatically is still alive in the title fight.
McLaren issued an apology to both Norris and Piastri after the loss of points at a critical stage of the season, and the championship leader said it was “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,” Norris said.
“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,” he added.
The decision is identical to the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the Chinese Grand Prix back in March, after falling foul of post-race technical checks.
Both Hamilton and Leclerc were disqualified from the 2023 United States Grand Prix, also for damage to the skid block.
