Max Verstappen swept to victory at the Las Vegas Grand Prix in dominant fashion, enough as he crossed the line to keep him just clinging on to hopes of retaining the world championship. But more than four hours after the race had concluded, the Dutchman found himself catapulted right back into the fight as the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were disqualified.
Norris had finished second and Piastri fourth, solid enough results to maintain an advantage over Verstappen, but two hours after the race the FIA announced it was investigating the wear on the skid blocks on their cars. They were found to be worn down beyond the limits of the regulations, leading to a double disqualification, as the rules around skid wear, which ensures the cars run at the prescribed height, are hard and fast and there are almost no mitigating circumstances.
Verstappen, who had been 49 points behind Norris, has advanced to just 24 behind, the same deficit as Piastri, with two meetings remaining. Fifty-eight points remain on the table from the final two rounds in Qatar, which includes a sprint race, and Abu Dhabi. If Norris comes out of the meeting in Doha with a 26-point lead he will seal the championship there.
As it stands, finishing in the points in front of Piastri and Verstappen in both races in Qatar would be enough for Norris but the Dutchman, extraordinarily, still has a shot at nicking the title from under McLaren’s nose at the death.
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If he does so, this extraordinary turn of events in Las Vegas will be the white whale that haunts McLaren’s papaya dreams for long into the future. Verstappen deserved his win without doubt. He was all but untouchable for Red Bull once he had taken the lead from Norris, the pole-sitter, through the first corner after the British driver paid the price for being too aggressive when the lights went out and went wide, losing the place.
Norris duly played the percentages and ground out a strong second place with Piastri in fourth. So far so good for the British driver, who climbed into a huge, pink, Lego Cadillac driven by the actor Terry Crews alongside Verstappen and George Russell, who crossed the line in third, to the now traditional post-race interviews at the Bellagio fountains. At which point Vegas still tasted sweet for Norris was in good humour, joking that he had messed up the start but knowing that he had 30 points on Piastri and 42 on Verstappen.
As Mickey Mouse conducted the Bellagio fountains to the music of Fantasia, Verstappen was revelling in a strong victory and the only inkling that something was amiss came more than an hour later, when McLaren’s team principal, Andrea Stella, did not meet his usual post-race media commitments and rumours began to swirl.
Norris had already left the track, as had all the fans, by the time the FIA confirmed an investigation was under way. The governing body then summoned McLaren representatives at 11.45pm local time but few believed the team would escape sanction.
This year Lewis Hamilton was disqualified for excessive wear in China when the rearmost skid on his Ferrari was less than the 9mm minimum thickness required, as was Nico Hülkenberg in Bahrain. In both cases the FIA had applied the letter of the rules rigorously, as it did once more in Vegas. However, the process was drawn out, with the decision finally announced at 1.45am local time after the meeting with McLaren had apparently lasted for more than an hour and a quarter.
For Verstappen this is the sniff of a shot he has craved and he can be expected to pile on the pressure at the final two rounds. In the dry race conditions the Red Bull performed far better than it had been in the wet in qualifying and Verstappen was all but flawless as he bossed the race on the street circuit in Nevada, perhaps making it the least invigorating of the three meetings the circuit has held.
The win was another statement of intent from Verstappen and Red Bull that he will keep fighting to the very last in this championship and his late-season surge has been hugely impressive. Having been 104 points behind Piastri after the Dutch GP in August, Verstappen has won four races and taken three podiums in the last seven meetings, including coming back from a pit lane start in Brazil to claim third. It has been an extraordinary turnaround for the team and driver: he now has six wins, a feat that had looked all but impossible given Verstappen had in effect written off his chances of defending his title at the midpoint of the season.
Norris has been calm and collected all weekend, insisting he had banished considerations of taking the title from his mind but rather was focusing intently on each session, and it appeared to have paid off. He took pole in treacherous wet conditions and went on to maximise what he could from the race, even as he had to lift and coast to save fuel in the closing stages.
Now, however, he must reset completely to be able to go again next week in Qatar, all the while knowing that Verstappen, who had been an outlier in the title fight, is now straining at the leash. Piastri too might consider it lucky that with both drivers penalised he has not actually dropped any more points to his teammate but will also be aware of the great chunks of points Verstappen has taken out of him in the last seven races.
In a season that has already enjoyed its share of drama, with the advantage swinging one way and another, the gamblers in Vegas would surely now be likely tempted to bet big on Verstappen making the unlikeliest comeback of them all.
With the disqualifications applied Russell took second place and his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli third. — Guardian
