Damning Video Shows How Unlucky Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri Were

The 2025 Formula One Drivers’ Championship was thrown wide open on Sunday morning after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Footage has now emerged showing just how unlucky they were to be kicked out of the race.

Sunday’s race had not originally gone too badly for the McLaren pair. While Max Verstappen took the chequered flag in Sin City, Norris crossed the line in second, with Piastri back in fourth.

Despite Verstappen making up ground on the pair in the standings, Norris looked set to leave Vegas with 18 points, with Piastri adding 12 points to his own total. However, after the race, the stewards found the thickness of the planks under both McLaren cars measured less than 9mm, which is the required minimum by the end of a grand prix.

Those findings suggested that the cars were running with an illegally low ride height, and that view was later found to be accurate. As a result, both men have been removed from the official classifications and leave Sin City with zero points.

Prior to the amended result, Norris led the Drivers’ Championship by 30 points to Piastri in second, with Red Bull’s Verstappen a further 12 points back in third. Having been stripped of the points they would have earned in Vegas, though, the title race now looks increasingly tight.

Verstappen had looked out of contention just a few weeks ago, but now finds himself in joint second after the McLaren pair were disqualified. Norris now holds a lead of just 24 points ahead of both the Dutchman and Piastri going into the penultimate race of the season in Qatar next weekend. As Qatar is a sprint event, there are still a maximum of 58 points available before the season concludes in Abu Dhabi on the 7th of December.

To make a decision that could have such a profound impact on the destination of the title, you might think that McLaren would have to be found guilty of a serious breach of the rules. According to Sky Sports’ Craig Slater, though, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The Shockingly Small Margin That Saw Both McLaren Drivers Disqualified in Las Vegas

During an appearance on Sky Sports News following the confirmation of Norris and Piastri’s disqualifications, Slater confirmed just how small the margins involved in the decision to kick the pair out of the official classification really were.

The relevant section of the FIA rulebook reads: “The thickness of the plank assembly measured normal to the lower surface must be 10mm [plus or minus] 0.2mm and must be uniform when new. A minimum thickness of 9mm will be accepted due to wear, and conformity to this provision will be checked at the peripheries of the designated holes.”

Earlier this season, Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after falling foul of the above regulation. Now, Norris and Piastri have experienced the same. However, with the top of the Drivers’ Championship being so tight, the impact of the stewards’ decision could change the course of F1 history.