F1 championship leader Lando Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri have both been disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix after post-race checks — and been given an apology from team boss Andrea Stella.

In a bombshell moment for the title race, McLaren was summoned to the stewards following the third-last race of the season, which was won by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Norris finished second to extend his title lead over fourth-placed Piastri to 30 points, while his lead over Verstappen moved to 42 points.

But both drivers’ cars were checked and excessive skidblock wear was found, similar to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc being DQ’d from the 2023 US Grand Prix.

Both men were disqualified from this year’s Chinese Grand Prix as well while teamed at Ferrari, though Leclerc’s was for his car being below the minimum weight.

An excessively worn skid block is illegal as it theoretically allows the car to run lower to the ground than is permissible and gain an advantage.

The disqualification was confirmed just before 9pm AEDT with Mercedes pair George Russell and Kimi Antonelli promoted to second and third respectively.

A referral by the technical delegate to the stewards almost always results in a disqualification and this was no different.

 

“The skid wear of car numbers 81 and 04 was checked,” the technical delegate’s report read.

“The rearmost skid was measured on both cars according to the team’s submission in accordance with TD039 M, item 1.2 b) i).

“The measured thickness was less than 9mm on both cars, which is the minimum thickness required by TR Article 3.5.9 e).

“I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.”

Documents confirmed Piastri and Norris’ skids were both 8.88mm (right front) and 8.93mm (right rear) respectively.

“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,” Stella said in a McLaren statement.

“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.

“We are investigating the reasons for this behaviour of the car, including the effect of accidental damage sustained by both cars, which we found after the race, and that led to an increase of movement of the floor.

“As the FIA noted, the breach was unintentional.”

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris on the podium.

Both drivers also reacted to the decision.

“It’s frustrating to lose so many points,” said Norris, who now holds a 24-point lead over both Piastri and Verstappen.

“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.”

Piastri said it was “disappointing” to leave Vegas empty-handed.

“We’re always looking at where we can gain performance, and we didn’t get it right this time,” he said.

“We now need to reset, refocus and push to get the best points possible in the final two rounds.”

McLaren submitted to the stewards there were “mitigating circumstances … in that there was additional and unexpected porpoising at this event, limited opportunity to test due to the weather on Day 1, and shortened practice sessions.

“Further the Team submitted that the degree of the breach was lower than prior breaches of this regulation in 2025.

“The FIA argued that unfortunately there was no provision in the regulations or in precedent for any penalty other than the usual penalty (i.e. disqualification).

“The FIA noted that it strongly held the view that the breach was unintentional and that there was not a deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations.”

The decision sees Norris on 390 points, with Piastri and Verstappen tied on 366 points, less than a race win behind the leader with races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to come.

It therefore keeps reigning champion Verstappen in the picture for a remarkable world championship.

In a silver lining for Piastri, the Aussie’s deficit to Norris has been reduced from the current 30 points back to 24 points.

Yet with a maximum of 58 points available in the final two grands prix, Norris can win the title in Qatar if he earns two more points than both Verstappen and Piastri over the course of the weekend, which includes a sprint.

Norris had to coast aggressively over the final few laps of the race due to a lack of fuel, later referencing “some issues with the car”.

“I am not sure how close it was, I don’t know if the sensor was saying things it shouldn’t have been, or we just used more than expected, or what it was,” he said.

“I don’t know the full extent, I need to go and see the team and understand more, to be honest.”

There are 58 points on offer in the final two races of the season.