The McLaren team has conveyed its apologies to its racers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, subsequent to their expensive dual disqualification during the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix. The team also detailed the factors contributing to the situation.
Norris and Piastri had initially secured second and fifth positions, respectively, in the Las Vegas race. However, both racers were subsequently excluded from the final results due to excessive wear on the plank.
McLaren made considerable attempts to convince the officials that extenuating circumstances played a role in the violation of F1’s technical regulations. Nonetheless, following a comprehensive review, both Norris and Piastri were stripped of their acquired points.
Team principal Andrea Stella indicated that the infringement stemmed from both team cars encountering unexpectedly intense bouncing during the race, which they intend to investigate. Moreover, both cars sustained damage as a consequence.
“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,” Stella was quoted by the team.
“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.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Jeff Speer / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“As the FIA noted, the breach was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations, and mitigating circumstances also existed.”
Stella also expressed regret to his racers for the forfeiture of points, particularly as they strive to overtake Max Verstappen in the championship standings. Verstappen, who emerged victorious in Las Vegas, now stands 24 points behind Norris as they head to Qatar and Abu Dhabi, and he is now level with Piastri.
“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. As a team, we also apologise to our partners and fans, whose support means so much.
“While this outcome is extremely disappointing, we remain fully focused on the last two races of the season.”
Norris stated his eagerness to shift his attention to Qatar following a “disappointing” loss of 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.”
Piastri added: “Disappointing to come away from this weekend with no points after an unfortunate disqualification due to skid wear. With how close the grid is, we’re always looking at where we can gain performance, and we didn’t get it right this time. We now need to reset, refocus and push to get the best points possible in the final two rounds, both tracks that we’ve been strong at previously.”
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– The Autosport.com Team
