Errors remain human, even at the level of extreme sophistication of Formula 1. The single-seaters are designed to drive as close as possible to the regulations, to remain legal while flirting with the limit. Question of competitiveness.
It happens that this limit is crossed for reasons that are sometimes difficult to anticipate. In 2024, George Russell was disqualified for a car that was 1.5 kg too light, a failure due to greater than expected tire wear. On Sunday, in Las Vegas, the two McLarens were disqualified several hours after the end of the race for non-compliance with their backboards. Instead of the required 9 millimeters, the boards of the single-seaters of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri measured 8.88 and 8.74 millimeters respectively. In such cases, disqualification is inevitable.
Guilty lack of anticipation
Nobody doubts the good faith of the English team. She didn’t cheat, she was just surprised by the rate of wear caused by the bumps of the Las Vegas street circuit. As few tests had been able to take place the two previous days due to the rain, this rate of wear had been poorly anticipated. McLaren, however, took too many risks compared to the opposing teams since no other car has suffered the same problem.
Was it really reasonable to play with fire when you are aiming for the world title and a driver of the caliber of Max Verstappen is coming up on you? To ask the question is to answer it. McLaren’s recklessness caused him to lose all his Las Vegas points, allowing the Red Bull driver to move back to 24 lengths behind Lando Norris and tied with Oscar Piastri. A scenario that no one would have believed in this summer.
An unappreciated personality
McLaren’s error allows many observers to lash out on social networks as well as in the paddock, where some team bosses literally hate some of their colleagues. We remember the hatred between Toto Wolff, from Mercedes, and Christian Horner, from Red Bull.
At McLaren, Zak Brown is also the object of contempt. The man is perfectly unpleasant, smug, even arrogant (I had to interview him for more than an hour in Austin, Texas, in front of an audience of 800 fans, he was unbearable). He was parachuted into the role of boss by McLaren shareholders, including the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund.
Favoritism towards Lando Norris questions
A pure American, Zak Brown managed to sign many sponsors and transform McLaren into a cash and victory machine. By the way, he grants himself the highest salary of all F1 bosses ($45 million per year), which only fuels jealousy and hatred against him. To the point that Toto Wolff, at Mercedes, is hesitant to renew his contract with McLaren for the supply of engines.
Many people this year were also surprised by the favoritism displayed by Zak Brown in favor of Lando Norris, to the detriment of Oscar Piastri. The boss clearly leans in favor of the Briton since he is also the manager. Not very cool for the Australian.
All these reasons make Zak Brown one of the most hated personalities in the paddock. It’s no surprise that Sunday’s double disqualification arouses an incredible amount of mockery. Perhaps the American will be led to lower his arrogance a tone… Knowing him, however, we can doubt it.
