Lando Norris disqualification feared after urgent McLaren message

Lando Norris's race engineer Will Joseph had a sudden fear that his driver would end up facing a disqualification at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Norris went for championship glory this weekend in Abu Dhabi, heading into the race 12 points ahead of Max Verstappen knowing that a podium would be enough to confirm his status as a world champion.

Therefore, qualifying was crucial for Norris, Verstappen and the other championship protagonist Oscar Piastri.

However, an incident during qualifying led Joseph to fear a disqualification for the Brit from the session, something that would mean a pit lane start and a long way back to the podium on Sunday's race.

Will Joseph feared Norris had missed weigh bridge

The reason for Joseph's concerns was that he believed his driver had missed the weigh bridge during the session.

All 20 drivers are called in at random to the weigh bridge at least once per session, and during Piastri's visit to see the FIA's technical delegates, Joseph had a sudden panic that it was Norris' turn and that he had missed it.

Joseph proclaimed over team radio: "Weigh bridge, weigh bridge! Lando!" Thankfully for McLaren, Norris had his brain engaged and realised that it was Piastri's turn, not his, but Joseph's panicked tone was clear for all to hear.

Missing the weigh bridge when called in can result in a disqualification from qualifying, according to article 35 of the sporting regulations.

But all drivers adhered to these spot checks in Abu Dhabi, and the official starting grid was unchanged after the qualifying session results.

Why are drivers weighed during sessions?

The reason for the FIA's stringency in weighing all of the drivers at random throughout the session is to ensure that a car's weight cannot be tampered with during an F1 session.

Any changes in the weight of the car could lead to better performance, particularly over a one-lap shootout where a matter of thousandths of a second can be the difference between pole and second place.

Cars are weighed following the grand prix too, but not everybody. This, again, is chosen at random, with normally only four or five cars being weighed following the conclusion of the race.

A number of other checks are conducted on cars following the race by the technical delegate, however, including checks on front and rear wing gurneys, checks on the skid blocks which have caused disqualification drama in 2025, as well as engine oil samples being taken.

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