At Las Vegas, McLaren was disqualified for excessive skid wear caused by unexpected porpoising during the race. The management of ride heights, long considered a key strength of the MCL39, became a weak point in this instance, despite attempts during the race to mitigate it by slowing down by almost 50 km/h in certain sections.
When the checkered flag fell in Las Vegas, paradoxically, attention had already shifted to the following week’s Qatar Grand Prix, where Lando Norris could (and can) contest the drivers’ championship. Smiles were inevitable, given the significant points advantage over rivals.
However, those smiles quickly faded. Initial joy was replaced by concern over a double disqualification that seemed inevitable: post-race FIA checks revealed excessive skid wear on both the English driver’s car and Oscar Piastri’s.
An indisputable irregularity, resulting in the exclusion of both cars – unexpected and dramatic, especially as there appeared to be no need to take particular risks given the championship standings. But what factors led to the disqualification of the two MCL39s, and how did the Woking team try to prevent it?
Why Las Vegas tests ride heights
The Las Vegas track, despite its seemingly simple layout, hides significant technical challenges. The long straights demand low-downforce wings and careful ride-height management, constantly balancing top speeds and aerodynamic load while avoiding excessive bottoming out.
This is a complex task, particularly given the circuit’s smooth asphalt, which also contains the bumps typical of street tracks. On straights exceeding 340 km/h, where the car generates significant downforce, even minor irregularities can cause excessive skid contact if poorly managed.
Unexpected porpoising caught McLaren off guard
It’s no secret that McLaren tends to generate high floor downforce and run aggressive low setups. This has often been a key advantage, as they are usually less sensitive to bumps than rivals, allowing more aggressive setups. In certain situations, however, running extremely low and generating so much downforce can trigger porpoising, as seen in previous sessions in Spain, which prompted a slight ride height adjustment.
These are highly specific, difficult-to-manage conditions, especially when porpoising occurs, a phenomenon that is extremely complex to control in real time. McLaren noted the lack of long-run data in free practice, due to a red flag in FP2 and wet FP3 conditions, which limited insights into expected wear and behavior.
Having observed no particular concerns with wear or porpoising during practice, McLaren ultimately opted for an aggressive ride-height setup, likely also slightly softer to improve tire and car performance in slower sections. Paradoxically, this combination contributed to their downfall, as unexpected porpoising caused the skid to contact the asphalt more than internal estimates predicted.
“During the race, both cars experienced unexpected and high levels of porpoising, not observed in free practice, leading to excessive contact with the track. We are investigating the causes, including the effect of accidental damage sustained by both cars, detected post-race, which increased floor movement,” explained the Team Principal.
“As the FIA highlighted, the violation was unintentional, with no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations, and mitigating circumstances exist. We apologize to Lando and Oscar for today’s loss of points at a critical moment in their season. As a team, we also apologize to our partners and fans, whose support means so much to us.”
Piastri had been involved in a first-lap contact with Liam Lawson, striking the front of his car, apparently without major impact on the floor. For Norris, no specific incident appears to have caused the damage. It remains a significant misstep in championship terms, though the Brit still holds a 24-point cushion to manage.
How McLaren tried to avoid disqualification
According to technical regulations, the skid must maintain a minimum thickness of 9 millimeters. Post-race checks, however, revealed non-compliance. Norris’s skid measured 8.88 mm at the front and 8.93 mm at the rear. Piastri’s readings were 8.96 mm front, 8.74 mm center, and 8.90 mm rear.
Teams do not have real-time sensors to monitor skid thickness but can estimate wear using algorithms correlating ride height and load. This analysis alarmed McLaren, prompting instructions for both drivers to adopt preventive measures to reduce wear.
In the final five laps, both Norris and Piastri began slowing, with the Brit more noticeably. Unable to raise tire pressures further, the drivers were instructed to ease off in certain track sections to reduce speed, aerodynamic load, and thus bottoming out.
Data from Norris clearly shows this approach: at lap 45, he was not yet managing, but by lap 48, the techniques were evident. Before braking zones and at high-speed sections, both drivers lifted off the throttle, sometimes multiple times even along the Strip.
This illustrates how McLaren detected anomalies via their algorithms, intervening with preventive measures that reduced speed by up to 40 km/h – measures that, unfortunately, were insufficient to avoid disqualification.
The championship fight is suddenly alive again. Norris still holds a healthy 24-point lead, but McLaren knows better than anyone how quickly fortunes can flip in modern Formula 1 – especially when your greatest strength turns into your biggest weakness under the Las Vegas lights.
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