The Die Is Cast: McLaren's Double DQ from the 2025 Las Vegas GP

The 75th Formula One season has had Quarter Quell energy, but there is just something about the Las Vegas Grand Prix that heightens it. I think it’s the constant neon bright lights, the celebrity presence, the fanfare, the night racing, and the overall defining camp that make this race quite peculiar. It is also a high-pressure cooker for Championship points, and the outcome of this year’s race has increased the stakes in what is another addition to the biggest plot twists of the season. 

Qualifying gave us rain and one of the most entertaining sessions of the year. The race itself delivered overtakes, tire gambles, and another win for Max Verstappen. But let’s be super real here - it is not the race that everyone is talking about, nor will it be something anyone is going to remember. Why? 

Because the biggest curve ball was thrown at McLaren: a double disqualification. 

The FIA’s Late Night Verdict 

The podium we all watched featured Max Verstappen in first, Lando Norris in second, and George Russell in third. Kimi Antonelli was behind his teammate in fourth, and Oscar Piastri was in fifth. It appeared to be the typical 2025 race result. Not a single suspicion raised. 

Hours after the podium confetti had settled and the champagne had been sprayed, the FIA released a document that sent shockwaves through the paddock: that both McLaren drivers, Norris and Piastri, had been disqualified from the Grand Prix. 

The reason? Excessive wear to the skid blocks, the wooden/resin plank underneath the chassis that enforces minimum ride height. 

This was one of those infringements where the rulebook is as black-and-white as it gets: go below 9mm, even by a minuscule fraction, and the disqualification is automatic. The skid block measured below 9mm, to the hundredths of a millimeter. 

McLaren blamed it on unexpected porpoising, an aggressive ride-height setup, and the bumpy streets of the Vegas Strip. It was understandable, but ultimately irrelevant to the regulation. 

If this all sounds eerily familiar, that’s because it is. Remember what happened to Ferrari after the Chinese Grand Prix? 

Lewis Hamilton was disqualified for a worn plank, and Charles Leclerc was disqualified for running underweight. Those margins of error were microscopic, and the FIA showed no mercy back then, so it is unsurprising that the same strictness was applied to McLaren. 

The governing body has spent the last three seasons trying to regain legitimacy after a series of high-profile and infamous controversies. This naturally ushered in an era of technical policing that has reached a level of strictness as strict as it can get - rules are rules, measurements are measurements, and intent does not matter.  In some ways, they’ve become too consistent to the ire of both fans and teams alike. The FIA will happily let racecraft decisions descend into philosophical chaos (track limits, steward inconsistencies, mystery penalties, and so forth). When it comes to plank wear, however, the buck stops with them. 

No matter how painful and championship-altering the call was, FIA was correct to disqualify the McLaren drivers. A technicality, no matter what is going on point-wise, is still a technicality. 

Points - Blows and Momentum 

The double disqualification means that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri not only lost their finish results but also their points. Max Verstappen remains the winner of the Las Vegas GP, George Russell has been promoted to second, and Kimi Antonelli is now in third. 

Norris, at 390 points, remains the Drivers’ Championship lead because of his pre-Vegas buffer. Verstappen’s win, however, now ties him with Piastri, who is second in the standings, at 366 points. 

The FIA’s decision didn’t just tighten the title race; it reset the odds for all three drivers. 

There are three remaining opportunities for point-grabbing - one Sprint and two races. That’s a maximum of 58 points, 25 per race win, and eight from a Sprint win. 

“What If” Scenarios That Could Decide the Championship

Keeping the aforementioned in mind, here are a few ways the plot can branch in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Lando Norris could become the 2025 Drivers’ Champion if: 

• He can outscore both Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri by at least two points in Qatar. 

• He plays it safe, minimizes chaos, and avoids any incidents, particularly those that result in a DNF. 

Max Verstappen could become the 2025 Drivers’ Champion if: 

• He seizes wins in Qatar (Sprint and Grand Prix) and secures 33 points. 

• McLaren, specifically Norris, has another mishap, including but not limited to a DNF, another disqualification, a penalty, a bad finish, and so forth. 

• Max Verstappen continues to be Max Verstappen. 

Oscar Piastri could become the 2025 Drivers’ Champion if: 

• He breaks the tie with Max Verstappen by outperforming him at both remaining rounds. 

• Lando Norris has a slip-up (whether it’s a DNF, a bad strategy call, a slow pit stop, or even simply finishing behind)  that would immediately dismantle the points gap. 

And here is something to consider: if all three drivers finish Qatar in a chaotic shuffle, all three drivers could go into Abu Dhabi within 20 points, which would give us the most dramatic season finale since 2021… Let’s just hope the FIA marshals with cleaner stewarding. 

A Final Thought 

Las Vegas was supposed to be a flashy, meme-filled, glittering crown jewel on the calendar. Instead, it became a case study in how technical rigor, no matter how justified, can overshadow the race itself. Now, we enter the final rounds of the season with many plausible outcomes in a three-way fight that has gone from tight to thermonuclear. 

Here’s something to take away from this: McLaren didn't lose because of a rubbish strategy call or, thankfully, because of Papaya Rules. They lost because the FIA was enforcing regulations. It’s happened many times before, and it will happen again, be it this season, 2026, or beyond.