McLaren’s United States GP struggles expose the same costly ride height problem that has haunted Ferrari all season
McLaren may feel relieved that the constructors’ championship was secured weeks ago, as the United States Grand Prix once again highlighted the team’s growing performance issues. With the development of their 2025 Formula 1 car paused, the British squad has started to lose ground to rivals who are still bringing updates to their cars. The early success that saw McLaren dominate the midfield has slowly faded, leaving Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris under increasing pressure as Max Verstappen continues to close in on both drivers in the championship standings.
Despite Norris managing to finish second on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas, it was a frustrating weekend overall. The Sprint Race ended in disaster when Piastri and Norris collided on the opening lap, forcing both cars out and leaving the team without any valuable data ahead of the main event. That lack of information would come back to haunt them. On race day, Piastri could only climb to fifth place and never matched his teammate’s pace, while Verstappen once again cruised to victory for Red Bull.
Ted Kravitz explains how ride height setup destroyed McLaren’s performance in Austin
According to Ted Kravitz on Sky Sports’ Ted’s Notebook, McLaren’s main issue in Austin was related to ride height and floor management — the same weakness that has caused major headaches for Ferrari throughout the 2025 Formula 1 season. Kravitz noted that McLaren’s lack of Sprint Race running left them “blind” when it came to determining the correct setup for their cars. Without proper data, the engineers had to raise the car slightly to avoid excessive plank wear, a precaution that ultimately cost them significant performance.
The legality plank, a piece of wood located beneath every Formula 1 car, ensures that the vehicle doesn’t run too close to the ground. If the plank wears down too much, the car risks disqualification — a rule that has caught out even the most experienced teams. To stay safe, McLaren raised their cars higher than optimal, sacrificing valuable downforce in the process. As a result, both Norris and Piastri lacked the aerodynamic grip needed to challenge for the win, while rivals like Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes managed to find the sweet spot with their setups.
“Red Bull and Ferrari got it perfect,” Kravitz explained, referring to how those teams optimized their ride height to maximize downforce without breaching FIA regulations. “McLaren had to be cautious and left performance on the table.” The result was a visible drop in speed, particularly in the high-speed sections of the Circuit of the Americas, where the team’s car balance seemed compromised throughout the race weekend.
Limited data and tyre strategy left McLaren exposed
Ted Kravitz also pointed out that because of the lack of Sprint running, McLaren didn’t have enough data on tyre degradation or performance. This limited their ability to make informed strategic choices during the race. When Charles Leclerc held up Norris early in the Grand Prix while running on the soft compound tyres, McLaren had no clear plan to counter the Ferrari’s pace advantage. This delay cost Lando Norris valuable seconds and ultimately prevented him from mounting a late challenge against Verstappen.
For McLaren, this was a painful reminder of how quickly fortunes can shift in Formula 1 when a team is forced to play it safe with setup decisions. While the car remains fundamentally strong, the lack of fine-tuning due to conservative ride height choices meant they were unable to fully exploit its aerodynamic potential in Austin’s demanding corners.
Ferrari’s long battle with the same issue
Ferrari fans are all too familiar with this scenario. The Scuderia has been plagued by similar ride height and plank wear problems throughout the 2025 season. In 2023, both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were famously disqualified from the United States Grand Prix for excessive plank wear, and the issue has continued to resurface since then. Earlier this year, Hamilton faced the same fate again in China, where he lost crucial points due to another disqualification for running his Ferrari too low.
Ferrari’s engineers have spent much of the current campaign experimenting with suspension adjustments to balance performance and legality. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, the Monegasque lost a potential victory when the team instructed him to raise the car’s height during his final stint to avoid another plank-related penalty. Similarly, Lewis Hamilton has often been told to “lift and coast” in races — a strategy designed to protect the floor from excessive wear and prevent overloading the legality plank on high-speed straights.
Even with a new rear suspension system introduced mid-season, Ferrari’s SF-25 has struggled to find the ideal compromise between aerodynamic efficiency and ride height management. Hamilton, known for preferring an aggressive, low-to-the-ground setup to maximize cornering grip, has frequently expressed frustration about being forced to drive a car that sits higher than he would like.
McLaren’s Austin experience mirrors Ferrari’s 2025 challenges
At the Circuit of the Americas, McLaren effectively faced the same challenge Ferrari has been battling for months — finding a balance between downforce and reliability. The British team’s conservative approach to avoid potential disqualification mirrored Ferrari’s strategy earlier in the season, but at the cost of outright speed and competitiveness. This left both Norris and Piastri vulnerable, unable to attack rivals in key moments and forced to settle for damage limitation rather than victory.
While McLaren’s championship lead remains secure, the Austin weekend served as a wake-up call. As rivals continue to fine-tune their cars to perfection, McLaren’s inability to push the limits of their setup could prove costly in the final stretch of the season. Both drivers are still mathematically in the fight for the title, but the margin for error is shrinking fast.
The United States Grand Prix once again showed how critical setup precision is in modern Formula 1. Ride height — an often overlooked but decisive factor — can make or break a team’s performance. McLaren’s misfortune in Austin perfectly illustrated that point, and it’s a lesson Ferrari has learned the hard way throughout the 2025 campaign.
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