Ferrari 'feel' for McLaren after painful double disqualification

Ferrari head of track engineering Matteo Togninalli has admitted he feels sorry for the McLaren squad following its double disqualification in Las Vegas.

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri were thrown out of the classifications on Sunday after their cars were found to have exceeded the maximum plank wear.

The non-score has offered a major boost to Max Verstappen in the title fight, as the Dutchman now sits just 24 points down on Norris.

McLaren became the second team this year to suffer a double disqualification after Ferrari was eliminated in China after Lewis Hamilton's plank was excessively worn and Charles Leclerc's car was underweight.

Drawing on the pain that Ferrari suffered near the start of the campaign, Togninalli expressed empathy for McLaren. 

“First of all, rules are rules,” he expressed to media including RacingNews365. “I feel for them, honestly.

“I know exactly the feeling. Our job as engineers is always to find the last millisecond, so you try to push things at the limit.

“If you try to push things at the limit, sometimes you go over. It's part of the game.”

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Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg was also disqualified for excessive plank wear in Bahrain, with Norris and Piastri marking the third and fourth occasion the issue has speared its head this year.

Togninalli revealed Ferrari has been using a safer margin each weekend since Hamilton's issue in China.

“After the disqualification, we put a lot of effort into the prediction,” he said. “We base on free practice, we base on last year’s data.

“But it’s a very fine line. The only way to be sure to be legal is to take margin. Margin is performance, and nobody wants to lose performance.

“So it's very difficult. Every team did the same process. The fact that we have been disqualified, probably we have put some more effort than others.

“Maybe we are more in control, but never say never - we still have two races to go.”

The Qatar Grand Prix this weekend is using the sprint format, offering just one practice session to get the cars dialled for the sprint sessions.

Togninalli outlined that teams use the sprint race as a base to form their set-up for qualifying and the grand prix, as parc fermé conditions are lifted after the shorter race.

“In the sprint weekend, the only sample that you have is the sprint race,” he said. “The FIA is aware of this and we all take the approach in that way.

“So maybe you don't push at the limit for the sprint race. You have the sample, which is a very clear sample, and then you fine-tune for the race.”