Apologising to his drivers and McLaren's fans, Andrea Stella insists that rules infringement was unintentional.

Already dealing with the disappointment of throwing away the lead, and potentially the title, in the opening corner, Lando Norris, and teammate Oscar Piastri were dealt a much bigger blow several hours later when both were disqualified from the Las Vegas race.

Around two hours after the race, amidst increasing social media speculation, the FIA announced that both cars were under investigation over skid wear. As everyone pondered the results of similar investigations into Lewis Hamilton (China) and Nico Hulkenberg (Bahrain), the FIA subsequently announced that both McLaren drivers had been disqualified.

For the Woking team and its fans, it was a nightmare, for F1 bosses, broadcasters and the promoters of the final two events a dream, for Norris now leads the title fight by just 24 points and Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen tied, with 58 points still up for grabs.

During the long wait on the FIA confirming what most already feared, Zak Brown and Stella both admitted that it looked bad, but it was the Italian who eventually faced the media.

"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," he said, insisting that post-race checks had revealed damage that had "led to an increase of movement of the floor".

Emphasising the FIA's clam that "there was no deliberate attempt to circumvent the regulations, and mitigating circumstances also existed", the Italian said: "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."

Apologising also to "our partners and fans, whose support means so much", he explained: "With how close the grid is, we're always looking at where we can gain performance, and we didn't get it right this time."

When it first became clear that the stewards were spending an inordinate amount of time checking Norris' car it was feared that the issue related to fuel, especially as the Briton had lost so much time to Verstappen in the final two laps. However, it was subsequently revealed that both drivers were under instructions to manage their pace through certain corners, 5, 11 and 17 for Norris and Piastri in Turns 5 and 11.

While 11 and 17 are the fastest left-handers on the Las Vegas track, Turn 5 has an infamous bump, and all were taking their toll.

"Lando still do overtake into 14," the Briton was told by his engineer Will Joseph on Lap 47 of the 50 lap race. "We can do an earlier lift into 17, bigger lift into 11. Happy to lose two seconds in the three laps remaining."

"Overtake and then that lift," he was told on the subsequent lap.

On Lap 49, while Norris was being told: "You can reduce what you're doing a small amount. The fuel looks okay now", his teammate was getting the message: "One lap to go. If you can't get closer to Antonelli, bring back the lift in five, eleven."

That message to Norris was the only time that fuel was mentioned, McLaren now clearly aware that there was an issue.

When Norris was told to attack Verstappen, Red Bull was already aware that the Briton had some sort of issue, but had no idea what it was.

"He was able to easily maintain the pace of those behind him and therefore save the tyres," Marko told Sky Sports Germany, referring to the Dutchman. "We also stayed out longer than everyone else.

"Of course, we knew the condition of the competitors' tyres," he continued, "and the funniest thing was the message that came from McLaren: 'Attack Max, overtake him.' And then he hammered in one fastest lap after another, just to make things clear.

"He did it with such confidence and ease," smiled the Austrian. "We had no problems at all. Lando had some issues at the end, because he was two or three seconds slower. Unfortunately, there was no one there who could capitalise on that. But from the first lap... I wouldn't say Max won the start... he won the first corner and practically forced Norris into the mistake."