To quote a very lucky, err, me: “Each time this Formula 1 season has appeared to be trending in a certain direction, there has been a twist in the tale that has just created uncertainty and excitement.”
Saturday night in Las Vegas very much provided the latest example.
Max Verstappen’s win was impressive, but it still felt like another big step towards the drivers’ championship for Lando Norris as he picked up a further 18 points to extend his lead to 30 over teammate Oscar Piastri, with Verstappen a further 12 points adrift.
The metaphorical red flags were waving, though, when Norris had to dramatically reduce his pace in the closing laps, as he was clearly managing some sort of issue. Lift and coasting into corners normally means one of two things: a car is tight on fuel, or marginal on plank wear.
Whispers started circulating around the paddock that there could be an issue with Norris’ car around an hour after the race had ended, and McLaren went dark as FIA checks were ongoing.
And in one fell swoop, the whole complexion of the championship changed.
After an hour-long hearing, the reasons for McLaren’s miscalculation were viewed as unintentional by the stewards, but a breach of technical regul ations carries a disqualification, regardless of intent.
Circumstances widened the risk of excessive plank wear and it was McLaren that failed to measure up to the challenge. Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images
All of the teams faced the challenge of inclement weather, a very low-grip track to start the weekend and some lost running late in FP2. They also could all face porpoising during the race depending on how they run their cars, so McLaren’s pleas for mitigating circumstances failed. The rest of the grid built in greater contingency in the circumstances.
It’s a failing that is more costly for Norris than Piastri, as the Australian theoretically regains the six points he had originally lost, remaining 24 points back heading to Qatar. But it’s Verstappen who is the real winner.
Maximum points on a night when both McLarens failed to score sees him go from massive title outsider to genuine threat. Now level on points with Piastri, Verstappen is within a race victory of Norris, with 58 points still to play for across the final two rounds.
Despite winning in Qatar last year, Verstappen is still the outsider, because McLaren can be expected to be strong at each of the last two races. But the almost-relentless way in which he has completely erased what was a 104-point deficit to Piastri just seven races ago brings a huge amount of pressure.
This was a drivers’ championship that looked surely headed one of the McLaren pair’s way, and still might be won by one of them, but nobody would have predicted Verstappen would be in a position where he could be leaving Qatar in the championship lead.
McLaren’s error came despite Verstappen being 49 points adrift arriving in Las Vegas, so it didn’t need to take any risks with its setup. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but when there were so many unknowns in terms of race pace due to the lack of long running and rain on Friday, surely playing it safe on ride height was the way to go.
Instead, McLaren can no longer afford to play it safe, because Red Bull and Verstappen have been on the offensive for the past three months and it is an approach that has generally paid off up to now.
The team’s approach to letting their drivers both fight for the title – w ith rules on how they wanted them to go about it – has been open to criticism at times this year, but this isn’t such a moment. This was an operational issue that has nothing to do with driver management, but leaves the pair of them exposed to the threat of Verstappen.
