McLaren boss Andrea Stella has apologised to Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris after a twist in the Formula 1 title battle saw both drivers disqualified on Sunday (AEDT) following the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Stella admitted the double disqualification, which resulted from the skid block wears on both cars being below the minimum nine-millimetre thickness, was "extremely disappointing".
Skid wear is the wear on the protective plank on the underside of the car.
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Lewis Hamilton was disqualified because of skid wear following the Chinese Grand Prix in March.
In Las Vegas, Norris and Piastri were disqualified after finishing second and fourth respectively.
Now, with two grands prix and one sprint race remaining, the championship-leading Norris is on 390 points with Piastri and Red Bull superstar Max Verstappen equal on 366 points.
"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," explained McLaren team principal Andrea Stella in a statement.
"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."
Stella also apologised to McLaren's partners and fans, adding their "support means so much".
"While this outcome is extremely disappointing, we remain fully focused on the last two races of the season," Stella said.
The damage done to Piastri's car was caused by an opening-lap prang with Racing Bulls' Liam Lawson in which the Kiwi collided with the inside of the Australian's car at turn one.
The stewards took no disciplinary action, ruling Lawson had moved to avoid hitting the rear of George Russell's Mercedes as the latter's car locked up.
"Disappointing to come away from this weekend with no points after an unfortunate disqualification due to skid wear," Piastri said.
"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.
"We now need to reset, refocus and push to get the best points possible in the final two rounds, both tracks that we've been strong at previously."
Norris admitted what went down was "frustrating".
"We had to do some managing towards the end of the race and now we know it was due to some issues on our car, which have unfortunately resulted in us being disqualified," Norris said.
"As a team, we're always pushing to find as much performance as we can, and we clearly didn't get that balance right today.
"Nothing I can do will change that now; instead, full focus switches to Qatar, where we'll aim to go out and deliver the best possible performance in every session."
Verstappen has won the past two races in Qatar, the location for the next stop on the calendar, and four of the past five at Abu Dhabi, where the season will end on December 7.
Speaking three hours before the McLaren drivers were called to see the FIA, Verstappen was coy about his world championship hopes.
The Dutchman is vying for his fifth title on the trot.
"I mean, it’s still a big gap," Verstappen said.
"But, you know, we always try to just maximise everything that we’ve got.
"This weekend, that was first.
"The upcoming weekends we’ll again try to win the race.
"And at the end of Abu Dhabi, we’ll see where we end up.”
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