F1
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri thrown out of Las Vegas Grand Prix for excessive skid block wear underneath the car; Norris’ championship lead cut to 24 points over both Piastri, and the biggest beneficiary, Max Verstappen with two rounds to go
Sports Journalist
Sunday 23 November 2025 10:33, UK
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Championship leader Lando Norris and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri have been disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix after their respective cars failed post-race technical checks.
Norris finished second behind race-winner Max Verstappen and Piastri in fourth but excessive skid-block wear means their result will not count and completely changes the title race picture with two rounds to go.
It means Norris leads Piastri and now Verstappen by 24 points ahead of the final events in Qatar this coming week and the season-finale in Abu Dhabi on December 5-7 – both live on Sky Sports F1.
A maximum of 58 points are available since a Sprint will take place in Qatar this Saturday and Verstappen has been given a huge boost to win a record-equalling fifth world title.
Norris was running comfortably in second place until he was told to slow down late on, losing eight seconds in the last two laps to George Russell.
At the time it was not clear why the team gave him those instructions.
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Skid blocks sit underneath the car to try and stop plank wear but if it has worn out to less than 10mm, you are disqualified.
However, there is a 1mm tolerance so the final limit is actually 9mm.
The stewards revealed Norris had two measurements that were below the 9mm skid block limit as the front right hand-side skid block was 8.88m and his right rear was 8.93mm.
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Piastri had three illegal measurements as his front left was 8.96mm, the front-right was 8.74mm and the right rear was 8.90mm.
McLaren argued there may have been “potentially accidental damage” which led to movement of the floor, which caused the wear but the stewards did not consider this sufficient to mitigate the disqualifications.
They added: “The rear skids were re-measured in the presence of the Stewards and the three McLaren representatives, and those measurements confirmed that the skids did not comply with the regulations.
“The relevant measurements were even lower than those measured originally by the Technical Delegate. Accordingly the Stewards determine that a breach of the Technical Regulations have occurred.
“The Stewards then heard submissions on penalty. The Team argued that mitigating circumstances existed in that there was additional and unexpected porpoising at this event, limited opportunity to test due to the weather on Day 1, and shortened practice sessions.
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“Further the Team submitted that the degree of the breach was lower than prior breaches of this regulation in 2025. The FIA argued that unfortunately there was no provision in the regulations or in precedent for any penalty other than the usual penalty (i.e. disqualification).
“The FIA noted that it strongly held the view that the breach was unintentional and that there was not deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations.”
The FIA also revealed the original top 10 drivers were checked for skid and plank wear, which is not always the case.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Williams’ Carlos Sainz move into the top five with Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar in sixth and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg in seventh.
Lewis Hamilton, who said 2025 has been the “worst season ever”, is classified eighth and the two Haas drivers of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman now score points in ninth and 10th.
1) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2) George Russell, Mercedes
3) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
4) Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
5) Carlos Sainz, Williams
6) Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls
7) Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber
8) Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
9) Esteban Ocon, Haas
10) Oliver Bearman, Haas
Sky Sports’ Nigel Chiu:
“Lando Norris told the media on Saturday that the McLaren was ‘porpoising’ which means bouncing over the bumps in Las Vegas.
“A disrupted Friday due to two red flags in second practice meant the teams did not get as much high-fuel running as they wanted, where they could test out how low they could run the cars without wearing out the bottom of their cars too much. The closer to the ground your car is, the more downforce you produce and the faster you go.
“Sunday’s race was a very fast one, with just two brief Virtual Safety Car interruptions but there was not as much tyre graining as expected too, so the drivers could push.
“The harder you push, the more, in theory, you wear out the skid blocks at the bottom of the car. McLaren may have just got their calculations wrong. Talk about fine margins and small measurements having a massive impact.”
F1’s season-ending triple header continues with the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1 this coming week. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
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