Lewis Hamilton is disqualified from US Grand Prix after failing post-race inspection: Controversy as seven-time world champion is stripped of second place finish nearly FOUR HOURS after losing to Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton has been disqualified from the US Grand Prix after his car failed post-race inspection, causing the seven-time world champion to lose second place.

The controversy arose just four hours after he lost to Dutch Max Verstappen with two seconds after the match in Austin, Texas.

Four cars were subjected to random flag stop checks, but Hamilton’s vehicle was declared illegal due to excessive wear on the underfloor skid blocks.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who finished sixth, suffered the same fate and was excluded from his place on the podium.

The skids on the underside of each car, which contact the track and cause sparks, must have a minimum ground clearance for F1 cars. Both Hamilton and Leclerc’s vehicles were so worn that they no longer met competition standards.

It was ruled that the depth of the new floor of Hamilton’s Mercedes was ‘outside the thresholds set out in clause 3.5.9 e)’ – which states that the plank cannot wear to a thickness of less than 9mm.

Hamilton’s disqualification meant McLaren’s Lando Norris was promoted to second, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took third.

Hamilton was already wary of the condition of his tires during one of his pit stops.

When asked if he could do another lap on the set of wheels, he said, “I’m not sure, man. It’s pretty tough.’

Despite his reservations, he left with the same ties. But soon his race engineer was back on the intercom to inform the driver that Verstappen – who had decided to fit new tires – had driven three seconds faster than him.

The update was met with an irritated response from the British driver who shouted: ‘No, man. I’m having a hard time here.’

Hamilton was given a 10-second swing against Max Verstappen as Mercedes left their star driver in no man’s land as they attempted a one-stop strategy at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

The British F1 star was less than two seconds behind early leader Lando Norris and five seconds ahead of Verstappen, who started only sixth, as they approached the opening round of pit stops.

Hamilton came in four laps later than Verstappen, with a slow right-front tire change aggravating his problems. When he emerged from the pits he had dropped to third place, five seconds behind Verstappen and 7.5 seconds back on Norris.

Hamilton beat Norris with about ten laps to go, but he couldn’t overtake Verstappen – taking the checkered flag an agonizing 2.2 seconds behind.

After being awarded the second place title, he could boast that if it had been a different day, he would have defeated the Dutch winner.

He told reporters: ‘Yes, I do think we would have been in a position to fight Max and we would have made it harder on ourselves than it had to be.

“There were a lot of areas where we could have been better and the positive is that we were able to match them in terms of pace.

“Second is great. To come in this weekend and have some real strength, it’s a solid second, it feels really positive.”

The F1 champion said his team must ‘get the strategy and the pit stops right’ so they can ‘race for the win’.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff added: ‘At the moment we have mixed feelings because there is the pain of losing a race that we could have won.

A few hours later though Hamilton’s Mercedes team was later taken to the FIA ​​stewards in Austin.

A statement said: ‘The Stewards heard from the team representatives from car 44, the Technical Delegate, the FIA ​​Single Seater Director and the FIA ​​Single Seater Technical Director.

‘During the hearing, the team acknowledged that the measurement carried out by the FIA ​​technical team was correct and stated that the high wear on the skid pads was likely a result of the unique combination of the bumpy track and the sprint race schedule, which reduced the time to set was kept to a minimum. and check the car before the race.

‘The Stewards note that it is the competitor’s duty to ensure that the car complies with regulations at all times during an event.

‘In this specific case, the back slip in the area defined in the technical delegate’s report was outside the threshold values, which include a tolerance for wear.

‘Therefore, the standard penalty for violation of the Technical Regulations is imposed.’

Hamilton spoke of his disappointment after his disqualification, but tried to remain positive.

He said: ‘It was tough racing the people around me because they were so fast, but we can be happy with a lot of things.

“I feel positive that we are moving forward, even though if we thought about it we might have won today.

“It is of course disappointing to be disqualified after the race, but that does not detract from the progress we have made this weekend.”

It is not the first time that racing stars have suffered such a fate. Michael Schumacher was disqualified from the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix for the same infringement, meaning Damon Hill took victory.

Logan Sargeant, who finished 12th for Williams, scored his first point – and the first by an American since Michael Andretti for McLaren in the Italian Grand Prix 30 years ago.

Hamilton has won six times across the pond, including five here in Austin

Mercedes has confirmed to Mail Sport that they will not appeal the decision.