United States GP: Mercedes say they will ‘learn’ from Lewis Hamilton disqualification in Austin

Mercedes say they will “learn from this” after Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification due to a technical infringement on his car lost him what had been an exciting second place in the United States Grand Prix.

Hamilton and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc were excluded from second and sixth places respectively four hours after the end of Sunday’s dramatic race after wear on the planks under their cars was found to have exceeded the limits of F1 regulations.

“We are of course very disappointed to have lost our podium place,” said Andrew Shovlin, technical director at Mercedes.

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Ride aboard as Lewis Hamilton finally passes Lando Norris after a brilliant battle for second place at the Circuit of the Americas

“Unfortunately it is one of the pitfalls of the sprint format, where we have to run for a lonely hour for the parc ferme.

“Without running a race fuel tax in FP1, combined with a circuit as bumpy as this and the parts of the track where drivers have to put the car during the Grand Prix, have contributed to the higher than expected wear levels.

“We’re going to walk away and learn from this, but also take the positives from our experience as a whole.”

Disqualifications Q&A: Answers to some of the most important questions

So F1 cars have a wooden plank underneath?

A view of the underside of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari during the 2021 Monaco GP as it was winched away after a crash

One of perhaps the most googled questions about F1 cars: yes, they have a strip of so-called ‘wood’ on the underside of the chassis.

It is a safety measure to control the ride height and ensure that cars do not drive too close to the ground.

Of course, being F1, it’s not exactly an old plank of wood; the material the teams use is actually a rather more complex, densified wood laminate.

The plank was first made mandatory on cars in 1994 as part of a number of safety measures introduced midway through that season following the tragic events at Imola, when Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger died in accidents, and has since been included in the technical regulations.

The regulations state that “the thickness of the plank structure, normally measured against the under surface, shall be 10mm ± 0.2mm and shall be uniform when new” and that “a minimum thickness of 9mm is accepted due to wear and tear “. It is this last rule that Mercedes and Ferrari did not adhere to.

When were Hamilton and Leclerc’s cars checked?

Jo Bauer, long-time FIA ​​technical delegate

The problems with Hamilton and Leclerc’s cars came to light during the regular post-check of cars in the pit lane in Austin, which is carried out after every race.

The list of checks carried out in accordance with the sport’s regulations, carried out by FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer, took up four pages in a document issued by the governing body on Sunday evening.

Some of the range of checks are carried out on all classified finishing cars – such as weight, fuel flow meters, tires and various limits for hybrid power units – while other inspections are carried out on some cars on a random basis from race to race. .

For example, on Sunday three cars (Perez, Norris and Tsunoda) were selected for checks on their respective aerodynamics and bodywork, all of which passed.

Four cars were inspected for physical floor and plank wear, which is where Mercedes and Ferrari ran into trouble. While two cars, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and Lando Norris’ McLaren, were found to be within accepted limits, the Mercedes and Ferrari were not.

The matter was then referred to the stewards and from then on it only went one way.

Would the shelf wear have provided any performance benefit?

Any advantage or disadvantage in terms of lap time cannot be quantified and in any case such a debate is rather irrelevant in this matter.

Whatever possible mitigating circumstances may come into play in situations like this, where the technical regulations have been broken by a car during a race, there is a zero-tolerance approach from the FIA ​​and so a slam-dunk disqualification from the results is almost always the outcome.

So now that we know this is the case, running the risk of breaking the board wear rules is clearly something neither Mercedes nor Ferrari would have wanted. In this case, as the teams admitted, the differences during a sprint weekend, when build-up time was severely limited, and the fact that the CoTA circuit was particularly bumpy meant that they were simply caught out, hence neither is on appeal opposed the decision.

What is the wider consequence of the double DSQs in the Championships?

1. Hamilton’s lost points give Perez unexpected breathing space

In the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s race, Hamilton sat just 19 points behind Sergio Perez in the standings for a few hours and his hopes of beating the under-pressure Red Bull driver over the final four races of the season looked eminently feasible.

But the Mercedes driver’s exclusion suddenly caused a 20-point setback in Perez’s favour, with his rival losing 18 points for second place and the Mexican himself also gaining two extra points by moving up one place in the revised ranking from fifth to fourth place.

Thirty-nine points with four races to go looks a more formidable lead for Perez as champions Red Bull aim to close their first-ever Drivers’ Championship at one-two.

2. Ferrari beats Mercedes for second place among constructors

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Charles Leclerc expressed his frustration in Austin after following team orders to allow Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz through, with Leclerc also later disqualified due to excessive wear on the skid blocks under the floor of his car

Although Mercedes and Ferrari each lost one car from the final results, the fact that Carlos Sainz finished two places ahead of George Russell in the other cars meant that it was ultimately the Scuderia who scored more points over the Austin weekend despite their rivals. ‘Superior race pace and near miss victory.

Ferrari took six points back from Mercedes, reducing the gap to 22 points.

3. Norris gains further ground to move into Ferrari, Alonso territory

The disqualifications had a double meaning for Lando Norris.

In terms of the race, he inherited second place from Hamilton, equaling his career-best result for the fifth time this year.

In terms of his rapidly improving championship position, the three extra points for second place, combined with Leclerc’s total points loss, saw Norris move his Ferrari rival into the top six of the standings for the first time in 2023.

Furthermore, he is now just 24 points behind fourth-placed Fernando Alonso, who withdrew from the race and did not score throughout the entire sprint weekend in Austin. Sainz is 12 points further down in fifth place.

4. Crucial points increase for Williams and AlphaTauri

However, the big winners of the day were Williams, who saw the double disqualification turn zero points into three. While that win may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, it is still 12 percent of the entire season’s total and consolidates the team’s grip on seventh place in the standings, ahead of Alfa Romeo.

Scoring a first F1 point in tenth place – and at his home race no less – is also likely to provide a timely morale boost for Logan Sargeant, the only driver on the current grid without a contract for 2024.

AlphaTauri, meanwhile, saw their points in the race rise from two (10th and fastest lap) to five (eighth and fastest lap) and double their total for the entire season. It now gives them renewed hope of finishing bottom of the table in the final four races of the season as they are now just two points behind Haas.

F1 heads straight to Mexico for the middle leg of the US triple header. Watch the entire Mexico City Grand Prix weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday, with Sunday’s race at 8pm. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW