Lewis Hamilton said that he would “put all his money” on the possibility that half the cars were illegal in Sunday’s US Grand Prix from which he was disqualified, and urged a change to the rules.
The Mercedes driver had finished second in Austin behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in what had been his most competitive race this season. But his car failed regulatory checks after the race as the plank under his car showed excessive wear, suggesting that the car was running lower than the regulations allowed.
The Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who finished sixth, was also disqualified. The only other two cars tested for wear — Verstappen’s and the McLaren of Lando Norris — passed.
Arriving in Mexico City only a few days later for the second race in a triple header, Hamilton was still optimistic about the upgrade that had made his car competitive again, but suggested that the disqualification could have applied to half the field if everyone had been tested.
“Basically it was the first time we have had a sprint race there and they only tested a few cars and 50 per cent of them were disqualified,” the 38-year-old said. “There are far more drivers cars that were illegal and the skid block is not a performance element.”
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The sprint meant that teams only had one hour to play with the set-up of their car on Friday, which would have to see them through the rest of the weekend. On such a bumpy track as the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, this caused problems and is something Hamilton said should be looked at.
“The sport really had such an amazing weekend. Such a great turnout and great race and then every time we step forward with the sport, something like that [the disqualifications] really taints it,” he said. “So going forward, we really need to do something and hopefully they will learn in the future.
“Rather than checking everybody and over 50 per cent of the cars failing — and I would have put all my money on it — maybe we could change the skid or the floor on the Saturday night so you don’t have this ridiculous event afterwards.
“If you look at the onboard, Charles and I have the worst ride of everyone, our heads are bumping a lot and that is the rear bumping around.
“But if you look at Max his head is much, much smoother through the ride. One millimetre was not a performance factor, it wasn’t like the floor was bowing and giving us extra downforce. It was just terrible over the kerbs, if we would have raised the car it would have passed the test.”
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Other drivers said that more cars should have been checked, in particular the team-mates of those who failed. Lando Norris, whose McLaren was one of the four taken for scrutineering, said that he was a “bit surprised” by the disqualification” and that he “would have loved if they had checked more cars”.
“They should have done [the whole grid],” Norris said. “I think the main thing… it can always bite you one day. But it’s more teams. It’s unlikely that two cars are that different. So if one car is illegal then a high chance that the other car is.”
Alex Albon did not think it was necessary to check every car but agreed that teammates should be investigated if one is in breach.
“I do think maybe you don’t need to check every car, every race, all the time,” the Williams driver said. “But if there’s one driver in one team illegal, there’s a very, very high chance that the other car, the team-mate of that driver, is going to be illegal as well.”
Leclerc said the disqualification had come as a “complete surprise” as there had been no indication during practice on Friday that there was any issue with the wear of the plank.
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“Rules are rules, and they need to be respected so it is not an excuse to say that on Friday: ‘We were fine’,” the Ferrari driver said.
“On Saturday night, we could see more or less where we are touching and we thought there was plenty of margin — and then on Sunday, it was a big surprise.
“We are still analysing why we wore the plank more than we expected.
“I was still at the track [when I found out], but it is the kind of thing you need to accept because there’s nothing to fight for with those things.”
His teammate Carlos Sainz was absent from the paddock on Thursday as he was feeling unwell, but Ferrari said it was “nothing serious” and they expected him back in the car on Friday for the two practice sessions as the usual schedule returns.
