McLaren Insists It « Played It Safe » Before 2025 Las Vegas GP Disqualification

Short Excerpt: McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri confirm no excessive risks were taken before their double disqualification over plank wear at the 2025 Las Vegas GP, highlighting unexpected porpoising.

McLaren Maintains Cautious Setup Before Las Vegas Disqualification

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has emphasized that the team « played it safe » with its car setup leading into the 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix, where both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were ultimately disqualified for excessive plank wear. Despite the disqualification, Stella and the drivers insist that no « excessive risks » were taken regarding ride height, countering assumptions that aggressive performance chasing led to the breach.

Unexpected Porpoising Caused Accelerated Plank Wear

The disqualification resulted from larger-than-anticipated porpoising—vertical oscillations of the cars caused by aerodynamic ground effect interactions on the rough Las Vegas street surface. This unexpected « extensive porpoising » led to accelerated wear on the plank (skid block) beneath the car, which dropped below the mandatory minimum thickness after the race.

“We included a safety margin on ride height, but the porpoising we saw in the race was beyond what our models predicted. It was an anomaly, not a set-up gamble.”
— Andrea Stella, McLaren Team Principal

McLaren had included an intentional safety margin over practice and qualifying ride heights to prevent plank damage but were caught out when the porpoising worsened beyond predictions on race day. Instructions for the drivers to adopt « lift and coast » techniques at certain track points sought to manage the situation safely, though ultimately the damage was unavoidable.

Drivers Refute Claims of Risk Taking

Both Norris and Piastri underscored that the team’s approach was measured and cautious, with no attempt to push setup boundaries aggressively. Norris described the porpoising as an anomaly rather than a consequence of aggressive setup strategies, and Piastri echoed this, noting the team’s intent on safety and regulatory compliance.

“People assume we were aggressive, but we actually took a conservative approach. The bouncing we got was completely unexpected.”
— Lando Norris

“We didn’t chase millimetres for performance. We gave ourselves buffer, yet still got caught out. That shows how random the bouncing was.”
— Oscar Piastri

McLaren’s Response and Regulatory Impact

Following the incident, McLaren has called on the FIA to reconsider technical penalty structures for such cases, advocating for sanctions proportional to actual performance gains rather than automatic disqualifications for minor infringements caused by unforeseen car behaviors.

“A 0.2 mm over-wear deleting an entire race result is disproportionate. We need a scale: time penalties for minor breaches, DQ only when performance or safety is clearly compromised.”
— Andrea Stella

Looking Ahead to Qatar and Abu Dhabi

McLaren enters the remaining rounds determined to avoid similar issues, with Andrea Stella and his engineers working to better understand and mitigate porpoising and other dynamics that threaten compliance. The team remains committed to a safe but competitive setup as they chase the 2025 drivers’ championship amid close competition.