Why were the McLarens disqualified in Las Vegas?

Facts

En Formula 1Since 1994, a board, which appears to be made of wood but is actually made of resin, has been placed under the floor of the Formula 1 cars. This board forces teams to increase their ride height and is primarily intended to limit cornering performance. 10mm thick when new, its thickness cannot be reduced below 9mm during track sessions under any circumstances, under penalty of outright disqualification of the competitor in question.

Four holes are drilled into the board, allowing FIA engineers to measure wear on the front left, front right, rear left, and rear right. Around these holes are titanium skids, added in 2015, partly to generate sparks and make racing footage more spectacular, but also to protect the board around the measurement areas. With the arrival of ground-effect F1 cars in 2022, and the need to run them very close to the ground, penalties for excessively thin boards have returned to F1. Lewis Hamilton et Charles Leclerc by being a victim in Austin in 2023.

According to FIA measurements, carried out in front of team representatives McLaren, the skates on the right side of the car Lando Norris revealed that the board was too thin, measured at 8,88mm at the front and 8,93mm at the rear. Three areas were measured as being below the limit for Oscar piastriThe front left (8,96mm), front right (8,74mm) and rear right (8,9mm) were found to be the largest tires in the world. The stewards' conclusion was straightforward, and both McLaren MCL39s were excluded from the final classification.

Possible causes

McLaren offered several explanations for the excessive wear on the floor of its two cars. Firstly, excessive porpoising. This phenomenon occurs on ground-effect vehicles at high speeds, causing the cars to bounce and scrape the ground on the straights. The Woking-based team also explained that due to incidents during the first day of free practice, there was less running time on a dry track, preventing the team from properly calibrating its setup.

Finally, McLaren argued before the stewards that the level of illegality observed was lower than in other similar infractions. These arguments were not accepted by the FIA, which upheld the disqualification of both McLarens.Classic Mercedes for saleAndrea Stella, Team Principal of the papaya team, spoke out in a statement.

“During the race, both cars experienced significant and unexpected porpoising, which had not been observed during practice sessions, resulting in excessive contact with the track. We are currently investigating the reasons for this car behavior, including the effect of accidental damage sustained by both cars, which we noticed after the race and which led to increased floor movement.”

As noted by the FIA, this infringement was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations, and there were also mitigating circumstances. We apologize to Lando and Oscar for the loss of points today, at a critical moment in their championship campaign after two strong performances throughout the weekend. As a team, we also apologize to our partners and fans, whose support means so much to us.

Although this result is extremely disappointing, we remain fully focused on the last two races of the season.

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