McLaren confident ahead of final races despite Vegas setback

DOHA :Formula One champions McLaren are confident title contenders Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will be fully up to speed for the last two races of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi despite their disqualification in Las Vegas.

Team principal Andrea Stella said in a team Q&A on Thursday that nothing would change in how the team went racing and what happened in Vegas last Sunday, with excessive wear to the rear skids, was specific to that street circuit.

"We have a well-established and consolidated way of setting up the car and we are confident that this will lead us to an optimal plan for the coming races, starting from the Lusail International Circuit (this weekend)," he said.

"Nevertheless, we learn from every lesson and the one in Las Vegas has been able to provide some useful information about the operating window of the car and the porpoising regime."

"Porpoising" is a phenomenon linked to ground-effect aerodynamics that occurs when a car repeatedly bounces on its suspension when travelling at high speed, losing downforce before gaining it again. 

Stella said McLaren experienced "large vertical oscillations" in Las Vegas.

NO EXCESSIVE RISKS TAKEN

"The level of porpoising was exacerbated by the conditions in which the car operated during the race, and it was not anticipated based on what we had seen in practice and based on the predictions of the car operating window in the race."

He denied the team took excessive risks in terms of ride height and said they added a clearance safety margin for qualifying and for the race, but that had been negated by the unexpected oscillations which caused the car floor to hit the ground.

Stella said that going slower, which should have increased clearance, was only partially effective and