Motorsport TechnologyThe 2025 Formula One drivers’ championship is yet again wide open after Max Verstappen won the Las Vegas GP and both McLarens were disqualified.
Having muscled his way past pole sitter Lando Norris and into the lead into Turn 1, the Dutchman never put a foot wrong en route to a fifth victory of the season.
It still didn’t look to be good enough to mount a serious challenge with only two races and one Sprint remaining as Norris trailed in a close second.
But then Verstappen was greeted with the news that both McLarens had been disqualified for skid block technical infringements.
The plank under an #F1 car is 10mm thick when new.
The @FIA measure wear in the inspection holes, anything more than 1mm is a simple disqualification.
Teams fit titanium skid blocks around the holes, but too much bottoming will still wear the assembly away.#F1tech pic.twitter.com/O2DrZtTKTm— Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech) November 23, 2025
Suddenly, what would have been a 30-point lead for Norris over teammate Oscar Piastri and 42 over Verstappen became a 24-point lead over both of his rivals.
“It’s frustrating to lose so many points,” Norris is quoted on BBC Sport. “As a team, we’re always pushing to find as much performance as we can, and we clearly didn’t get that balance right today.
“Nothing I can do will change that now, instead full focus switches to Qatar, where we’ll aim to go out and deliver the best possible performance in every session.”
The wear amounts and locations.#F1 #F1tech #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/8oLvWRZMUR
— Craig Scarborough (@ScarbsTech) November 23, 2025
For Verstappen, who has been thrown a lifeline in his bid for a fifth successive title, there is now all to play for. And who would bet against him pushing Norris and Piastri all the way to the finish.
“We always try to just maximise everything that we’ve got – and this weekend, that was first,” Verstappen is quoted on the official Red Bull Racing website. “For the upcoming weekends we’ll again try to win the race. And at the end of Abu Dhabi, we’ll see where we end up.
Anyone for some crowd surfing? 🏄♂️#F1 || #LasVegasGP 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/miiyCHnWfr
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) November 23, 2025
“We’ve had a really up-and-down season and tough times, but also really beautiful moments. And we learned a lot throughout the whole season, and that’s also very valuable for the upcoming years.
“That’s something we just have to cling on to and [we’ll] just try to improve even more to come back stronger for next year. But we’re enjoying it now, and then we’ll see next week what we can do.”
Fraser Masefield
