Verstappen and Red Bull may have triggered McLaren’s Vegas disqualification

It was almost unimaginable that this happened. At a very costly moment in the championship, McLaren made the mistake of apparently setting their drivers’ cars too low. Precisely when Lando Norris could use every point in his title fight to make his dream a reality, they made such a major blunder.

Because yes, it was a mistake, as McLaren framed it after the Las Vegas Grand Prix. In a statement released late in the night in the US, team principal Andrea Stella said what they did was ‘unintentional’ and that there was ‘no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations.’

What Stella said is undoubtedly true. Still, the fact remains that the plank under Lando Norris’ car was worn down by 0.12 millimeters over the limit, and on Oscar Piastri’s car by no less than 0.26 millimeters beyond what is allowed.

This could only have happened if the cars were set too low to the ground, because eight other F1 cars from rival teams had no excessive wear. The reason a car sits as low as possible is because of the downforce effect. After all, a car generally goes faster the lower it sits to the ground.

The follow-up question is: why did McLaren push the absolute limit in terms of ride height? It could well be that the British team considered Red Bull Racing such a serious threat that the Woking-based squad decided to take a gamble. Perhaps knowing that without an extremely low ride height, Verstappen would have easily defeated them anyway.

Of course, it remains to be seen what this means for the upcoming Grands Prix in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Will McLaren be forced to raise the car, giving an advantage to Verstappen and the Austrian team?

Or was this really a one-off, as McLaren would have us believe?

In the context of the reignited title fight, that is going to be an intriguing factor in the final phase of what is turning out to be another legendary season.

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