Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the US Grand Prix hours after the chequered flag because an issue was found with the underside of his car.
The 38-year-old had finished second and was confident he could have won after Mercedes had brought a successful upgrade to the car. Instead his car was referred to the stewards and the result overturned.
Four cars were randomly picked for inspection of their floor and plank, which regularly makes contact with the track and throws up the sparks seen on TV. It was found that Hamilton’s Mercedes and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who had finished sixth, did not conform as the skid pad underneath the car had too much wear and was in breach of the regulations.
Mercedes representatives were summoned to the stewards at 6pm, more than two hours after the race finished, with the grandstands completely empty. Ferrari went in 15 minutes later. More than an hour later they learnt their fate.
Both had argued that the bumpy nature of the track and the limited practice due to the sprint race — which leaves teams with only an hour to change the set-up of their car — had resulted in high wear of the skid pad. Teams try to run their car as low to the track as possible to gain an aerodynamic advantage, but there is a limit to how low, and the skid pad underneath is a clear indicator of whether that has been breached.
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The FIA released statements relating to Hamilton and Leclerc, which said: “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.”
Hamilton’s disqualification promoted McLaren’s Lando Norris to second and the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz to third.
It had been Hamilton’s best performance of the season and he was waxing lyrical about the new upgrade, which was a modified floor, before the news broke of his potential disqualification. The new floor is not connected to the ride height and disqualification.
Hamilton insisted the disqualification did not change his feelings about the upgrade. “It is of course disappointing to be disqualified post-race but that doesn’t take away from the progress we’ve made this weekend,” he said.
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After nearly two seasons of below-par performance, having chosen the wrong tack with their design philosophy, the upgrade Mercedes brought to Austin appeared to show them moving towards being able to fight at the front again.
A few more laps and Hamilton thought he would be able to get past Verstappen to take the chequered flag, something unthinkable at the start of the season. “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,” Hamilton had said before the disqualification.
“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.”
Hamilton has been vocal about his displeasure with his car this season but described this upgrade as giving him the confidence he needed from the car, which would serve him well in the final four races of this season and could even yet deliver a win.
“It was the first weekend I felt the upgrades work, so it is positive and nice to see the reward of everyone’s hard work at the factory,” he added before Mercedes were summoned.
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“The step we were able to take this weekend has given me more confidence in the car to throw it into the corners, but there are still some fundamental issues with it that will not change until next year. But it was positive to feel the step up.”
For Verstappen, it was his 15th win this season and the 50th of his career, putting him one behind Alain Prost in fifth place on the all-time list.
Norris sealed the final spot on the podium. The McLaren driver had looked at one stage as if he might win and was leading for much of the first half of the race.
This grand prix was, arguably, not as star-studded as it has been in previous years when former presidents and Hollywood A-listers graced the tarmac (the latter are mostly on strike) but there were still a few celebrities around.
Rory McIlroy and Anthony Joshua were keeping a close eye on their new investment, having recently announced that they were part of a consortium to buy a stake in Alpine F1. That Esteban Ocon was forced to retire from the race while Pierre Gasly could only finish eighth would not have been the result they wanted to see.
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Prince Harry was also in attendance and was spotted in the back of the Mercedes garage watching the race. Elon Musk, now a local of Austin after moving Tesla to the city from California, was also in attendance with his son.
But the drivers are still the real stars here. The season may be over, with both championships wrapped up, but 432,000 people still passed through the gates at the Circuit of the Americas over the three days. Netflix’s fly-on-the-wall documentary continues to bolster the F1 fan base, though it is worth noting that the number is slightly down on last year, which may have something to do with the title fights being done already. Now it is a battle for places further down the grid and teams trialling updates as they turn their attention to next season’s car.
Norris had a superb start from second and was quickly past the Ferrari of Leclerc on the steep run up to turn one. The other Ferrari of Sainz also had a great start and was up to third at the expense of Hamilton.
Behind them, Verstappen had managed to make up one place after starting sixth on the grid but was forced wide through the very tight left-hander at turn one.
As the tussle behind him continued, Norris set off to open up as much of a gap as he could. He pitted as McLaren went for the two-stopper but Mercedes made clear they wanted to try one. It kept Hamilton out on track but he couldn’t make it work. The delay had cost him a place to Verstappen, who had already stopped.
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As all the other cars around them pitted the order became clear and Norris was back in the lead, with Verstappen now filling his wing mirrors. The overtake was inevitable. The superior speed of the Red Bull, with the assistance of DRS (drag reduction system) was too much for the McLaren and Norris barely put up a fight. But the Red Bull did not disappear off into the distance. Norris was able to stay on the back of him.
The order was the same after the second round of pitstops and Hamilton closed in enough to attack Norris on lap 48 of the 56 with some heart-stopping wheel-to-wheel racing, which was brilliant to watch. Corner after corner there was no daylight between them until eventually Hamilton made the move out of turn one a lap later.
He found himself five seconds down the road from Verstappen and was told the Red Bull was managing a brakes issue. The triple world champion had earlier complained that his brakes were “shit” and actually sounded flustered, an unfamiliar state for the Dutchman, as his race engineer told him he was lapping at the same pace as Hamilton. “No talking,” Verstappen snapped back. As Hamilton hunted him down in the closing laps, Verstappen snapped back with the same message and added an expletive.
Verstappen held on and Hamilton crossed the line second but left Austin with no points. With this the first of a triple header, the Englishman and his team have less than a week to regroup as the F1 circus travels on to Mexico City.
