Both the McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri got disqualified from the Las Vegas GP as McLaren failed their post-race inspection. Both the McLaren cars were found not to comply with the technical regulations.
After a dramatic race from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Max Verstappen secured a successful pole followed by Lando Norris finishing P2 and Piastri with a P4 position.
According to the FIA regulations, the rearmost skid should at least be a minimum of 9mm thickness by technical delegates on inspection. During the post-race analysis of both McLaren MCL39 machines, the FIA found that excessive skid wear planks fell behind the 9 mm threshold. As a result, the stewards disqualified both the cars from the race classification.
Max Verstappen gained some significant points from the race, still fighting strongly for the title against Norris and Piastri. The Red Bull driver levels his points with Piastri on 366 points, falling short of just 24 points behind the championship leader Lando Norris.
With two Grand Prix and a sprint race left, there are 58 points on offer over the next two weekends to determine the outcome of the 2025 title.
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Where does this leave Verstappen in contending for the title?
For the next race weekend being held in Qatar, Verstappen would have to outscore Norris by 17 points and secure a pole in Abu Dhabi with Norris failing to score any points, this would result in a tie breaker in points.
This simply means that Verstappen would have to secure a pole position in both his races to tie up with Norris’ seven wins this season against Verstappen’s six wins. Had the Las Vegas Grand Prix stood with the same results, Norris was the highly likely driver to win his first championship title.
With just two races left, there is a 24 points margin between the three title contenders. Norris would have to outscore Verstappen and Piastri by just two points in Qatar. That remains highly unlikely but it’s not impossible.
Written by: Atin Kevin