McLaren apologizes to Norris and Piastri for losing points at ‘critical moment’

mclaren team boss andrea stellaapologized to land norris and Oscar Piastri Lost points at a “critical” moment in the F1 World Championship after a double disqualification for breaching Article 3.5.9 of the FIA ​​Technical Regulations.

Stella explained both MCL39 “I struggled with pitching at an unexpectedly high level (porpoiseThe problem deteriorated to the point of “excessive ground contact,” which did not appear during free practice.

“We are investigating the causes of this behavior of the cars, including the influence of the accidental damage to both cars that was discovered after the race and caused increased ground movement,” the Italian added.

Lando Norris’ car violated the minimum flat-bottom thickness requirement of 9mm by 0.012mm, and Oscar Piastri’s car by 0.026mm.

World Cup leader Lando Norris admitted it was “frustrating to lose so many points” in the final. las vegas grand prix He said this incident was the reason he started managing his pace in the final stages of the race.

“As a team, we always strive to find the best performance possible, but today we clearly did not achieve the right balance and nothing I do now will change that,” he stressed.

Norris appealed for a complete change of focus to Qatar, where he would try to “travel and give the best possible performance in each session”.

In that respect, Oscar Piastri He declared it was a “disappointment” to end the weekend with a disqualification, explaining: “The grid is so tight that they’re always looking for ‘where they can perform better’ and this time they weren’t able to do that.”

“We now need to recalibrate, refocus and push for the best possible points in the last two rounds, two circuits that have been strong so far,” the Australian concluded.