Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
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Updated 12s ago
Max Verstappen won the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Lando Norris taking second place in a great result for his world championship hopes.
However, Norris' P2 finish and Oscar Piastri's P4 are in jeopardy, as both drivers have been referred to the stewards for excessive plank wear on their McLarens.
The provisional result would give Norris a 30-point lead in the drivers' standings over Piastri, with Verstappen a further 12 points behind. If the McLarens are both disqualified, however, Norris would lead by 24 points over both Piastri and Verstappen.
There are just two races (and a sprint race) left in the 2025 F1 season, which translates to a maximum of 58 points on offer.
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Las Vegas GP briefing: Max Verstappen’s win keeps the heat on Lando Norris
After races, all 20 cars are weighed and undergo inspections for things such as tire pressures, fuel samples, torque control and oil consumption. A number of cars are also randomly selected for additional technical checks, including the plank wear inspection.
That means that at least one of the McLaren cars was randomly selected for that check. Once an issue was found with one McLaren, the other would also be checked for the same issue if it hadn't already been randomly selected.
Had the FIA not checked the planks on Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's cars, both would have escaped detection and possible disqualification.
Team representatives typically go into hearings with the stewards armed with all the arguments possible to escape sanction.
Oscar Piastri heads into the Nevada night looking sanguine. He said goodbye to the McLaren mechanics breaking from packing down the team’s garage on his way out and left with his manager Mark Webber.
Lando Norris has been gone almost 90 minutes – before it was officially confirmed the McLarens were under investigation.
The plank on the underside of an F1 car is made of a composite material called Jabroc, a kind of strengthened beechwood. Its primary purpose is for safety, stopping the cars from bottoming into the circuit.
The point of the plank wear rule is to ensure teams are not running their cars too close to the ground and consequently gaining a performance benefit by increasing the downforce generated by the floors, which are especially powerful under the current "ground effect" regulations.
After each race, the FIA conducts an extensive scrutineering process that checks various aspects of all cars. The information is detailed in a post-race report issued by the FIA’s technical delegate, Jo Bauer, and sent to all competitors and made available to the media.
If Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix for excessive plank wear, they won't be the first drivers to face the penalty this season. Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix in March due to the thickness of his rear skid block being below the minimum 9mm in thickness.
Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were also both disqualified from the 2023 United States Grand Prix for this reason.
More on the plank wear rule and what happened earlier this year at the link below.
GO FURTHER
Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly disqualified from Chinese Grand Prix
Let me stress that we do not know the outcome of the investigation into the McLaren cars at this time. With that said, here's the drivers' standings based on tonight's provisional results:
And here's how they would look if both McLaren drivers are disqualified from tonight's race:
Norris' lead over second place would only fall from 30 points to 24. Meanwhile, Piastri's lead over Verstappen would drop from 12 to zero.
Verstappen would obviously be the big winner, seeing his deficit to Norris decrease from 42 to 24.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Bortoleto has been handed a five-place grid penalty for next weekend's Qatar Grand Prix for his collision with Lance Stroll at the opening corner tonight, which knocked both drivers out of the race.
Both McLaren cars have officially been referred to the stewards for excessive plank wear.
A document from the FIA states: "The rearmost skid was measured on both cars … The measured thickness was less than 9 mm on both cars, which is the minimum thickness required."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella's post-race press conference has been delayed, and Lando Norris' car is reportedly still being scrutineered by race officials. If an issue is found, such as not enough fuel left to comprise a sample or excessive plank wear, that could result in a disqualification for Norris, which would reduce his lead over Oscar Piastri in the drivers' standings from 30 points all the way down to nine. But that's only speculation at this time. Norris was clearly conserving fuel at the end of the race, so it would follow that he was on the limit in that regard, but that doesn't guarantee an infraction occurred. In short, watch this space!
Lewis Hamilton, who finished tonight's race 10th, told Sky Sports earlier that this has been his worst season ever, and now he's told the BBC that he's not looking forward to next year.
"It's a terrible result. There is nothing positive to take from today.
"I'm eager for it to end, I'm looking forward to it ending. I'm not looking forward to the next one."
Asked if he meant he was not looking forward to the next race, Hamilton replied, "Next season."
The seven-time world champion is on the verge of going an entire F1 season without a podium for the first time in his career.
Lando Norris told Sky Sports that his start to tonight's race was "pretty embarrassing." He aggressively moved over to cut Max Verstappen off but then ran wide at the first corner and lost the position to the Red Bull driver, and then lost another position to George Russell as well.
“I’m here to win races. Second is still a great result. I feel spoiled because of how good we’ve been the last few weekends.
“I messed up Turn 1 badly and it cost me a chance to lead the race. It didn’t cost me the win today. The thing that cost us the win today was just a lack of performance, not being quick enough and a lot of issues with the car.
“I need to learn from Turn 1 and try to do a better job than I’ve been doing recently. We’ve not been performing well enough."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella spoke to Sky Sports about how they approached Lando Norris' race once Max Verstappen overtook him at the first corner.
"I think we have to acknowledge that Red Bull and Verstappen were faster. Would've been interesting if we were in a condition to take the lead, use the clean air when you get in the lead. Max was faster than us. At some stage we thought second place was enough."
Oscar Piastri also spoke to Sky Sports about the uphill battle he faces in the drivers' championship standings now, with just two race weekends left.
"Obviously I need more than (cutting into the lead) now.
"I'm just going into the next two weeks trying to be as prepared as I can and have the best weekends I can. It would be nice to get some good results on the board to finish the year.
"The championship picture is what it is. We'll see what I can do."
Oscar Piastri was less than pleased with the contact he took from Liam Lawson at Turn 1 of the first lap when speaking with Sky Sports about what was ultimately a very difficult race.
"There's not much to say. I feel like I was one of the only people that actually braked to make the corner (at the start of the race) and I got barged out of the way. That's fine. It is what it is.
"The rest of the race was eventful after that as well, a few too many mistakes, but from start to finish it felt like there was some tough moments during the race.
"There was good moments of pace. In clean air we were really quick, but it was difficult before I got the clean air and difficult after it ran out.
"There were little lockups here and there. It's maybe not my favourite circuit of the year but there's plenty of tracks that aren't my favourite that have been good this year.
"It was a bad start, I took a while to find the rhythm and I got stuck behind Antonelli for a long time which hampered our pace quite a lot."
Lewis Hamilton may have been lamenting having his worst season ever but Charles Leclerc wasn't much happier when speaking with Sky Sports after tonight's race.
"It's not a good result, P6 is very disappointing. On another note I felt like it was probably the best race of the season in terms of personal performance.
"I felt like honestly in all the laps and qualifying laps there weren't many mistakes, so I'm very happy with my own personal performance, but P6 is very frustrating.
"In the straights we were losing a lot of speed compared to the guys in front. The DRS activation is very late in the straights. In the very first part I was losing so much but in the braking I knew I could make the difference. I surprised some of our competitors in braking of Turn 14.
"In the end when Oscar (Piastri) had the DRS of Kimi (Antonelli), it was then very difficult for me (to attack Piastri)."
Lewis Hamilton spoke to Sky Sports after a brutal weekend that saw him qualify last and finish the race in 10th.
"I feel terrible. It's been the worst season ever and no matter how much I try, it keeps getting worse."
"I'm trying everything, in and out of the car."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella spoke about Oscar Piastri's title hopes after tonight's race.
“Mathematics is what counts. Oscar needs to go into the final two races with the will to win them and take it from there.
“It's still a very exciting and interesting finale of the season. Max (Verstappen), Lando (Norris), Oscar and everyone will go into the next race thinking they need to win and see what happens.”
Stella also spoke about whether Norris could have won tonight's race.
“Honestly, Max was faster than us pretty much in all conditions so at some stage we thought second place was good enough with the perspective of the championship.
“I’m not sure we could have kept the lead with the pace Verstappen exhibited today.”
Oscar Piastri spoke to the BBC after a race that saw him fall further behind Lando Norris in the drivers' standings.
"It was a frustrating race from pretty much start to finish in some ways. I think the team did a very good job on strategy trying to get me past Carlos (Sainz) and Charles (Leclerc) and the pace in clean air was really good.
"Once I got to Kimi (Antonelli) I couldn't get past which was a bit disappointing. A few moments in that race that were difficult to get through."
On the championship: "Just try to put myself in the best position I can. I obviously need quite a lot of things to go my way now to win, but all I can do is make myself in the best position to capitalize if something happens. That's what I will put my effort into and just try to have some good results."
Speaking after tonight's race, Fernando Alonso had significant criticism for the condition of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit track and for this event's placement in the calendar.
"I mean, the race circuit is fun because it's high speed, but I think the type of asphalt is not a Formula One standard. To be honest, it's too slippery and we cannot put the tires in temperature and there is no grip. It's extremely bumpy at the limit of being safe to race. I think for the future, we need to talk with the FIA if this is acceptable or not for the following years.
"Then the place in the calendar, if I'm totally honest, it's difficult for us to come here with the time difference and how far it is from Europe and Brazil two weeks ago, and we go to Qatar now straight and it's 17 hours plane and 11 hours time difference. I don't think any other sport in the world will accept that. So, I mean, circuit okay, asphalt and moment in the calendar, for me, it's a borderline."
Formula One heads to Qatar for the penultimate round of the 2025 season in just a few days, and Lando Norris can wrap up the drivers' championship with a round to spare if things break his way.
There are 33 points on offer in Qatar, which includes a sprint race, and another 25 in Abu Dhabi.
That means that Oscar Piastri has to outscore Norris by five points over the course of the Qatar weekend in order to remain in contention heading to the final round. And Max Verstappen similarly has to outscore Norris by 17 points next weekend in order to still have a title shot.
If Norris manages to avoid getting outscored by each driver by those margins, he'll be your 2025 drivers' champion.

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