McLaren explain Las Vegas disqualification findings as Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri react to lost points ahead of Qatar GP

McLaren are confident the porpoising issues that led to their double disqualification in the Las Vegas Grand Prix will not be repeated this weekend in Qatar.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri lost their respective second and fourth-place finishes last Sunday when their cars were excluded from the results in the hours after the race for excessive skid-block wear.

While Norris retains a healthy title lead with two races left, Red Bull rival Max Verstappen has closed to within 24 points of him, with the Dutchman moving onto the same points total as Piastri.

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In a Q&A released by the team on Thursday, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said that their cars had suffered from an "unexpected occurrence of extensive porpoising" including "large vertical oscillations" during the 50-lap Grand Prix.

Stella said the issues were "exacerbated by the conditions in which the car operated during the race and that attempts to mitigate this by getting the drivers to 'lift and coast' at the end of straights actually proved "counterproductive" in some areas of the street track.

"The conditions we experienced last weekend and which led to the onset of porpoising and excess of grounding, compared to what was expected, are very specific to the operating window of the car in Vegas and the circuit characteristics.

"We have a well-established and consolidated way of setting up the car and we are confident that this will lead us to an optimal plan for the coming races, starting from the Lusail International Circuit.

"Nevertheless, we learn from every lesson and the one in Las Vegas has been able to provide some useful information about the operating window of the car and the porpoising regime."

'You can almost say we didn't take enough risk' - Drivers on DSQs

Teams generally try to run their cars as low to the ground as possible for downforce gain, although on safety grounds must satisfy the regulation that states the skid blocks on the underside plank must not wear below 9mm.

However, while it had been assumed since Sunday that a push for performance may have led McLaren to miscalculate their set-ups in Las Vegas and therefore fall foul of the rules, the team have denied this was the case.

Stella said: "What happened in Vegas was due to an anomaly in the behaviour of the car, rather than it being the outcome of an excessive or unreasonable chase of performance."

Speaking later on Thursday in their media engagements in Qatar ahead of this weekend's Sprint weekend, Norris and Piastri both suggested that things were not as straightforward as had been widely assumed.

Norris said "it wasn't because we were just running low. Sometimes it can be the opposite", before adding: "In some ways, you can almost say we didn't take enough risk.

"It's not as simple as just looking at it and saying, 'ah, they did that and that's why they are quick.' In fact, we were slower because of the issues that we had, not quicker.

"I'm almost more excited to just get it better for this weekend because we'll have more performance."

Norris, who with a 24-point championship lead does still have his first chance to wrap up his maiden F1 title in Sunday's grand prix, added: "At every team, when you're in Formula 1 fighting for race wins, you always have to push things to the limit.

"That's not meaning that's exactly what we did in Las Vegas, because it's a lot more complicated. We still want to win these last few races, we still need to push everything to the limit as you always do, because Red Bull are just as quick. If we don't put things in the right condition, like in Brazil, they'll be quicker than us and they'll win."

Piastri also said that, after a lack of practice time after red flags in last Friday's second session, McLaren had actually "played it safe" with the MCL39's ride height.

"You try to get the most out of the ride height everywhere you can," said Piastri.

"It's pretty much the main way you gain performance in these cars - getting them in the right window, Vegas especially.

"A lot of long straights and slow corners means you've got quite a big difference in ride heights between the different speed ranges, so it is important in Vegas. But we had no concerns of anything.

"We obviously didn't get that much practice in. It wasn't the easiest to get a read, but obviously, that's the same for everybody. What we didn't expect was how much porpoising we had in the race.

"It wasn't like we took extra risk, we actually played it safe given we hadn't had that much practice but there was just things that happened that we didn't expect."

'It sucks, but that's life' - Norris sanguine over lost points

Having finished second to Verstappen but two places ahead of Piastri last Sunday, Norris briefly held a championship lead of 30 points over his team-mate and 42 points over the Dutchman.

McLaren's disqualifications dropped the Briton's advantage back down to 24 points over both rivals.

However, Norris said there was no point getting too upset about the situation and that he was focused on returning to winning ways over the final two races as he bids to close out his maiden F1 title.

"I was quite ok, to be honest," he said.

"It doesn't help [to be angry]. From what I had to do in the race there was already some expectation that it might happen, so it wasn't a shock, it wasn't a surprise.

"We knew we were having a lot more issues than we ever expected during the race and that led already to the expectation that some things might not be as we expect.

"Maybe it would have hurt more if it won the race, but we didn't, so it doesn't change anything, there's no point being too sad about it.

"Of course, everyone in the team was a bit gutted about the result because there's a lot of effort that goes into it. It's the same for everyone but 0.1mm or whatever is like a piece of paper. So it was frustrating, but I was quite ok.

"Just excited to go again this weekend, it doesn't change anything. I want to try and win in Qatar, I want to try and win in Abu Dhabi.

"It sucks, but that's life sometimes."

Sky Sports F1's Qatar GP schedule

Thursday November 27
3pm: Drivers' Press Conference
6pm: Paddock Uncut

Friday November 28
11.05am: F2 Practice
1pm: Qatar GP Practice (session starts at 1.30pm)*
3.30pm: Team Bosses' Press Conference
4.05pm: F2 Qualifying*
4.50pm: Qatar GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 5.30pm)*

Saturday November 29
1pm: Qatar GP Sprint build-up*
2pm: QATAR GP SPRINT*
3.30pm: Ted's Sprint Notebook*
4.15pm: F2 Sprint
5.15pm: Qatar GP Qualifying build-up
6pm: QATAR GP QUALIFYING
8pm: Ted's Qualifying Notebook

Sunday November 30
11.55am: F2 Feature
2.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Qatar GP build-up
4pm: THE QATAR GRAND PRIX
6pm: Chequered Flag: Qatar GP reaction
7pm: Ted's Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1's season-ending triple header continues with the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW - no contract, cancel anytime

(c) Sky Sports 2025: McLaren explain Las Vegas disqualification findings as Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri react to lost points ahead of Qatar GP