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Lawrence Edmondson
Las Vegas – exactly three hours later lando norris crossed the line in second place las vegas grand prixBoth his car and his McLaren teammate’s car oscar piastri Disqualified from results,
Wear on plank – a strip of composite material on the underside of a formula 1 Car – Found to be in excess of the allowed quantity, leaving managers with no choice but to remove both from the final classification.
On Norris’s car, the wear was 0.12 millimeters over the limit, and on Piastri’s car, it was 0.26. To put this in context, the width of the average human hair ranges between 0.17 to 0.181 millimeters, making it likely that Norris, if winner of Saturday night’s race, could miss out on the title by less than a hair’s breadth, max verstappenWon the title by defeating him by 18 points or less at the end of the year.
The confirmation of the disqualification, issued by the stewards at 1:42 p.m. PT on Sunday, means that the 30-point lead Norris thought he had over Piastri and the 42-point lead he held was reduced to 24 points ahead of next weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix. While still a healthy margin, it’s a lot less comfortable than when he stood in front of the Bellagio fountain holding his second-place trophy.
Why were the cars disqualified?
The FIA’s statements for both disqualifications made it clear that the stewards were “of the firm view that the infringement was unintentional and was not a deliberate attempt to circumvent the rules,” but when it comes to measuring spline wear, the technical rules leave no margin for error – even though it can be measured in micrometers.
The plank material is designed to wear out during the race as it rubs against the track surface – partly protecting the underside of the car but also allowing the FIA to ensure that a minimum ride height is maintained. Running the car low to the ground may yield greater performance from underfloor aerodynamics, but running it too low puts the team at risk of potentially dangerous loss of downforce when the car is driven low.
To ensure that the cars run in safe conditions, the FIA’s postrace checks monitor the wear of all point scorers’ frames. The governing body’s scrutineers measure four holes on the plank which must be no more than 10 millimeters deep (plus or minus 0.2) at the start of the race and no less than 9 deep at the end of the race. On Norris’s car, the depth of two of the four measuring holes was found to be below 9, and on Piastri’s car, the depth of three of the four holes was found to be below 9.
At this year’s Chinese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton Was disqualified for the same violation, even though the plank wear was 0.5 mm more than the permitted amount.
Why was McLaren driving his car so slowly?
The current generation of F1 cars is extremely sensitive to ride height. Every millimeter the car moves lower off the ground, the more it seals and activates the flow of air passing under the car. The fast-moving air between the floor of the car and the track surface creates a low pressure, known as ground effect, that essentially pulls the car on the track, providing the large amount of downforce that allows an F1 car to turn at such mind-boggling speeds.
Each race weekend, teams search for the perfect ride height to find the balance between maximizing the floor’s aerodynamic performance, while also ensuring the coupe remains at legal levels. Although the simulations provide a starting point for ride height settings, teams rely heavily on track running during practice to make final decisions before locking in the car’s final setup before qualifying.
Rough track surfaces can increase wear levels, but this is usually accounted for by teams, and with the threat of disqualification if a car is found to be illegal, engineers usually err on the side of caution. And while it is true that practice time at Las Vegas was reduced due to two red flags and a partially wet final practice session on Thursday evening, limiting data on plank wear, such limitations on practice are not unusual during a race weekend.
In their statement in the early hours of Sunday morning, the stewards said that McLaren cited the car’s bounce (known as porpoising in F1) and limited practice time as the reasons for the unexpected wear levels.
“The team argued that mitigating circumstances existed because there was additional and unexpected porpoising at the event, there was limited opportunity to test due to the weather on the first day, and the practice sessions were shortened.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said in a statement: “During the race, both cars experienced unexpectedly high levels of porpoising, not seen in practice sessions, which led to excessive contact with the ground. We are investigating the reasons for this behavior of the car, including the impact of accidental damage to both cars, which we discovered after the race, and which caused an increase in ground speed.
“As noted by the FIA, the violation was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the rules, and mitigating circumstances were also present.”
There were indications that McLaren was aware of the problem during the race when Norris’s race engineer told him to lift the throttle and coast at the end of the straights. By doing this, McLaren hoped to reduce the peak aerodynamic loads at the end of the Norris Straight and reduce wear on the floor when it was running closest to the ground. Despite sometimes missing the pace by more than 3.5 seconds, ultimately Norris’s efforts could not go far enough.
“We had to manage something towards the end of the race and we now know it was due to some problems with our car, which unfortunately resulted in us being disqualified,” Norris said in a statement released by McLaren. “It’s disappointing to lose so many points. As a team, we’re always pushing to perform as well as possible, and today we clearly didn’t achieve that balance.”
McLaren apologizes to its drivers
Although Norris is now entering the final two races of the season with fewer points than expected, he is still the clear favorite for the title. He has a 24-point gap on his two nearest rivals, and if he can increase it to 26 or more by the end of next weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, he will guarantee that he will become champion right away.
Meanwhile, Piastri, who has struggled for performance in recent races, saw his teammate fall short as a result of the disqualification. It may not be enough to overcome their loss of form, but it gives them more chances than they would have had both McLarens been found legitimate.
Verstappen is undoubtedly the biggest winner as the McLarens’ early results in Qatar looked certain to knock them out of the title race. Now finishing ahead of Norris and Piastri in next weekend’s sprint race and grand prix will ensure he remains in contention until the final round in Abu Dhabi.
