Lando Norris’ bid to win the world championship has taken an extraordinary setback after he was disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Norris had finished runner-up to Max Verstappen in Sin City to put him 42 points clear of the Dutchman in the title race with just 58 to play for.
But Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri were stripped of their respective second and fourth-placed finishes for running illegal cars after the rearmost skids underneath their McLarens were less than the 9mm minimum thickness required.
It means Norris will head to the penultimate round in Qatar – which includes a sprint race – next weekend guarding only a 24-point lead over Verstappen with the season finale to follow in Abu Dhabi on December 7. Piastri, who had been cast 30 points adrift at the chequered flag, is now also 24 points back.
The stunning verdict from the stewards arrived at close to 02:00 local time – more than four hours after the race finished.
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