Photo credit: Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been disqualified from the United States Grand Prix as their cars failed a post-race scrutineering check.
After a brilliant drive from the seven-time World Champion saw him finish P2, with Leclerc P6 because of a crazy one-stop strategy, both drivers saw their efforts come to nothing.
Jo Bauer, the FIA technical delegate stated the following in a document published by the FIA that hinted at what was to come: “A physical floor and a plank wear inspection was carried out on car numbers 16 and 44.
“The skids located in the area -825 > XR 2 – 1025 are found to be not in compliance with Article 3.5.9 e) of the 2023 Formula One Technical Regulations.
“I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.”
Mercedes and Ferrari visited the stewards at 18:00 and 18:15 local time respectively to see the stewards and discuss the situation of technical non-compliance.
Later on it was confirmed that only the planks of the top 4 cars from the provisional results were checked.
At 19:18 local time, it was confirmed that Leclerc and Hamilton had been officially disqualified from the United States Grand Prix race results.
Reason for disqualification:
“The Stewards heard from the team representatives of Car 16 and Car 44, the Technical Reason Delegate, the FIA Single Seater Director and the FIA Single Seater Technical Director.
“During the hearing the teams acknowleged that the measurement performed by the FIA technical team was correct and stated that the high wear on the skid pads was probably a result of the unique combination of the bumpy track and the Sprint race schedule that minimized the time to set up and check the car before the race.”
“The Stewards note that the onus is on the competitor to ensure that the car is
compliance with the regulations at all times during an event. In this particular case, the rear skid in the area defined in the Technical Delegate’s report was outside of the thresholds outlined in Article 3.5.9 e) of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations which includes a tolerance for wear. Therefore, the standard penalty for a breach of the Technical Regulations is imposed.”
Verstappen, Norris, Sainz, Perez, Russell, Gasly, Stroll, Tsunoda, Albon and Sargeant completed the top 10 following those disqualifications.
Not for the first time in his career, Sainz picks up a trophy following a post-race penalty/disqualification. It happened at the 2019 Brazilian GP and the 2021 Hungarian GP as well.
For Sargeant, it’s the first point the American driver has scored in Formula 1. Although it has come in strange circumstances, it could be a career-defining moment for the Floridian.
It has massive implications in both championships, too:
- Sergio Perez is now 39 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the battle for P2 in the Drivers’ Championship
- Lando Norris overtakes Charles Leclerc for 6th
- Ferrari outscore Mercedes by 5 points on Sunday instead of losing 4 to them in the Constructors’ Championship
- Williams extend gap to 10 over Alfa Romeo as they bag 3 vital points in the battle for P7
- Tsunoda’s P8 + fastest lap moves AlphaTauri to within 2 points of Haas in the battle for 9th
