Why was Lewis Hamilton disqualified from US Grand Prix? | The Sun
LEWIS Hamilton has been disqualified from second place in the US Grand Prix.
But why was the F1 legend kicked out and who claimed the winning title? Here's everything you need to know.
Why was Lewis Hamilton disqualified from the US Grand Prix?
In October 2023, it was reported that F1 legend Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the US Grand Prix after his car failed a post-race inspection.
He was kicked out alongside Ferrari's Charles Leclerc after both cars were subjected to random checks following the chequered flag.
Hamilton and Leclerc's cars failed on the minimum thickness of the titanium skidblock, or planks, that run along the centre of the floor on the car.
It is designed to protect the bottom of the car from scraping along the ground, consequently forcing teams to run their cars higher from the track surface.
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The skidblock, which also provides the sparks seen on TV, has to be a certain thickness and the two cars that failed did not meet the requirement.
In theory, it means they were able to run their cars closer to the ground and get better speed in the corners.
F1 rules state that after races, cars are placed in Parce Ferme, away from the teams and where they are subjected to legality checks by the FIA in the same way an athlete undergoes a drugs test.
All 20 cars are investigated but the checks to the particular parts that are tested are random and at the will of technical delegate, Jo Bauer.
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For instance, four cars had their floors checked in Austin of which two – Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes and Charles Leclerc's Ferrari – failed.
The other two, including Lando Norris's McLaren, passed while no cars had their floors checked in the Japanese GP.
A failure to meet a particular limit instructed in F1's overly complicated rulebook, such as the weight or height of a certain part, sees a car disqualified.
The FIA confirmed the news that both drivers had been disqualified after Hamilton's Mercedes team were summoned to the FIA stewards in race control, over two hours after the race had finished.
The team representatives emerged 15 minutes later before their Ferrari counterparts were summoned.
A statement said: "The Stewards heard from the team representatives of 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 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 minimised 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 in 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 which includes a tolerance for wear.
"Therefore, the standard penalty for a breach of the Technical Regulations is imposed."
Following the disqualification, the teams have shared a couple of theories on what happened.
Firstly, they felt the sprint race weekend – which sees only one practice session on a Friday before qualifying – and an extra sprint race and sprint qualifying session – had caught them out.
They got their measurements wrong and set their cars up too low – consequently the skidblock was worn down.
Another theory is that the track in Austin is unusually bumpy and that, plus the increase in wind speed, caused the cars to bump about too much and ground away the skidblock during the races.
In terms of appealing the decision, if Bauer would have expected foul play, then he could have investigated the cars of their two respective teammates, George Russell and Carlos Sainz.
The fact he didn't implies that Hamilton and Leclerc's side of their garages simply got their measurements wrong with regard to the cars' set up and simply made it millimetres too low.
Teams can only protest a race result within 30-minutes from the chequered flag.
With the race finishing at 2:35pm local time, the check on the cars did not happen until 5:28pm, by then it was too late to launch a protest.
What has Lewis Hamilton said about his disqualification?
Following his disqualification, Hamilton spoke of his dissapointment.
In Mercedes' post-race press release, Hamilton said: "It is of course disappointing to be disqualified post-race but that doesn't take away from the progress we've made this weekend."
The F1 legend also spoke out ahead of the shock disqualification.
He said: "Yes, I do think we would have been in position to fight Max and we made life harder for ourselves than it needed to be.
"There were a lot of areas where we could have been better and the positives are we could match them for pace.
"Second is great. To come in this weekend and have real strength, it is a solid second, it feels really positive.
"We have a few races ahead and we don't know how the car will be, but if we are in position like this, and get the strategy right and the pitstops right, we can be racing for a win."
Who won the US Grand Prix?
Prior to the disqualification, the US Grand Prix saw Hamilton finish second in his Mercedes behind race-winner Max Verstappen.
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However, Hamilton's disqualification means that McLaren's Lando Norris is bumped up to second and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz to third.
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was disqualified from his sixth-place finish.
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