Hot on the heel of McLaren's shock double disqualification from the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Andrea Stella stressed that the Woking-based outfit did not attempt to circumvent the regulations, but it was simply caught out by the lack of running across the practice sessions which meant that the engineers could not assess the optimal ride height.
Championship runaway leader Lando Norris finished second at Saturday's Las Vegas Grand Prix behind reigning champion Max Verstappen.
His team-mate Oscar Piastri endured a more challenging evening at the Las Vegas Strip, ending up fourth, which saw him lose further valuable points in the championship battle.
However, the FIA issued a document after the 50-lap race in Sin City, confirming that McLaren would face a double investigation for both of Norris and Piastri’s cars following the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The FIA's document read: "The skid wear of car numbers 81 and 04 was checked. The rearmost skid was measured on both cars according to the team’s legality documents submission in accordance with TD039 M, item 1.2 b) i).
"The measured thickness was less than 9 mm on both cars, which is the minimum thickness required by TR Article 3.5.9 e)."
After a lengthy investigation, the governing body confirmed that the British and the Australian driver have been disqualified from the 50-lap Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Reflecting on McLaren's shock result at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, team boss Andrea Stella stressed that the Woking-based outfit did not attempt to circumvent the regulations, but it was simply caught out by the lack of running across the practice sessions which meant that the engineers could not assess the optimal ride height.
"Following the Las Vegas Grand Prix, we were found in breach of Article 3.5.9 of the Technical Regulations, which requires a minimum of 9mm skid thickness. Car 4 was found in breach by a maximum of 0.12mm of the rearmost skid and Car 81 by a maximum of 0.26mm of the rearmost skid.
"During the race, both cars experienced unexpected, high levels of porpoising not seen in the Practice sessions, which led to excessive contact with the ground. We are investigating the reasons for this behaviour of the car, including the effect of accidental damage sustained by both cars, which we found after the race, and that led to an increase of movement of the floor.
"As the FIA noted, the breach was unintentional, there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations, and mitigating circumstances also existed.
"We apologise to Lando and Oscar for the loss of points today, at a critical time in their Championship campaigns after two strong performances from them all weekend. As a team, we also apologise to our partners and fans, whose support means so much.
"While this outcome is extremely disappointing, we remain fully focused on the last two races of the season," concluded the Italian.
- Balazs Szabo
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