Max Verstappen clinched his second Vegas victory under the dazzling lights of Sin City. It was a weekend to cherish for the Dutchman and for those at Milton Keynes, the Red Bull team base. The same cannot be said for the World Drivers’ Championship (WDC) aspirants, as initially, everything seemed alright. Lando Norris claimed second position comfortably, only for the McLaren duo to be disqualified after their cars were found to be below the minimum 9mm plank thickness by the stewards.
This article discusses the top stories from Nevada this week.
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Verstappen Victorious in Vegas
Max Verstappen qualified P2, and he overtook polesitter Norris at Turn 1 when the McLaren driver ran wide in an attempt to cut off the Red Bull driver, but failed and lost his lead as a result. After taking the lead, Verstappen held a commanding advantage over the rest of the pack.
Verstappen had a comfortable lead of 20 seconds over P2 Norris (later disqualified). After McLaren’s double disqualification, the significance of this victory increased even more, as he is now just 25 points behind championship leader Norris, and the possibility of his fifth WDC seems more realistic.
Speaking to the media before McLaren’s disqualification news, he said, “I’m very proud of everyone – we’ve had a really up and down season and tough times, but also really beautiful moments, and we learned a lot throughout the whole season, and that’s also very valuable for the upcoming years.”
McLaren’s Misery at Las Vegas GP
Lando Norris secured pole position and was having a good weekend. Traditionally, Vegas is the weekend where Norris struggles, but this one was going well until after the race, when McLaren was called to the stewards’ office over a breach of the regulations regarding the thickness of the skid block, also called the plank.
The skid block is largely for safety; it is placed at the bottom of the car to prevent teams from running the car too low, which can be dangerous. As per the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), minimum plank thickness should be 9 millimetres (mm).
Plank thickness on both McLaren cars was below the 9mm standard; for example, Lando Norris’ car was found to be 8.88mm.
Running lower can give the car an aerodynamic advantage, but it also causes the plank to wear too much, which can lead to disqualification, as happened in this case. McLaren tried to explain the causes and said that this was not deliberate and was an accident.
In the end, even if it was not intentional, the stewards ruled that a breach had occurred and that the penalty could not be less than disqualification.
This was a big blow for championship leader Norris, who would have been 42 points clear of Verstappen, but now, with this DSQ, the difference between them is just 25 points. Ironically, this whole situation proved beneficial for Oscar Piastri, reducing the gap between him and Norris by six points; just like Verstappen, he is also 25 points behind.
Team principal Andrea Stella apologized to both drivers for the disappointing weekend. “We apologise to Lando and Oscar for the loss of points today, at a critical time in their Championship. This outcome is extremely disappointing. We remain fully focused on the last two races of the season.”
Disappointing Weekend for Ferrari
It was yet another disappointing outing for the red-clad drivers. The qualifying session was underwhelming for Lewis Hamilton as he finished in the worst position of his career, P20, while Charles Leclerc managed to get P9.
Leclerc overtook Oliver Bearman, Isack Hadjar, Oscar Piastri, and Carlos Sainz later. He finished P6 after the McLaren DSQ and after Kimi Antonelli received a 5-second penalty. Leclerc admitted that it was a lost opportunity that could have been utilised. “It was a bit of a shame because we lost a good opportunity to do something special, because I felt like the pace was there.”
Hamilton started on hard tyres and ran a long stint on them before switching to mediums and finishing just in the points in P10, later moving two positions ahead. Hamilton was far from happy and labelled the weekend “horrendous”.
The Las Vegas GP weekend brought a twist to the 2025 title race with Norris leading and Piastri and Verstappen chasing. Norris needs to finish ahead in both the sprint and feature races to keep his championship dreams alive.
23 rounds of the 2025 F1 WDC unfold in Qatar this weekend.
