McLaren urged to make drastic call to prevent 'animal' Verstappen's charge

Speaking on the Red Flag podcast, the former Haas team principal believes McLaren has to make a drastic decision soon: “They must support him. Otherwise, he hasn’t got a chance. If Oscar steals the points from Lando, that would be… wow. If Oscar is leading the race and Lando is second, and they don’t let Lando pass, I would be shocked.”

Norris had finished the Las Vegas race in second place, seemingly securing the championship, but following the disqualification he now holds a “mere” 24-point lead over Verstappen—hardly enough to allow him to relax.

Steiner further added: “If Oscar is in front of Lando in any position, knowing that Lando now has a lead—but it’s not a comfortable lead—do we want to be eaten up by the animal, or do we try to help one guy?”

McLaren has moved to clarify what caused the double disqualification of Norris and Piastri at the Las Vegas GP. Both drivers were removed from the race following FIA technical checks, which found that the MCL39 on both cars did not comply with the regulations regarding skid block wear, exceeding the maximum allowed 9 mm.

Nearly a week after the incident, team principal Andrea Stella provided a more detailed explanation of what led to the race-day disaster.