Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the US Grand Prix after “a physical floor and a plank wear inspection” on his Mercedes.
His car and three others — the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the McLaren of Lando Norris — were randomly selected for checks by the FIA, F1’s governing body, after the race. Leclerc also fell foul of the regulations and was disqualified. So what happened?
Why were these four cars chosen?
The four cars were picked at random, not because they were the top four finishers. It is not always four cars inspected, either. The number of cars and which ones are at the discretion of the FIA.
What was discovered?
For the most technologically advanced sport in the world, sometimes the smartest thing to do is keep it simple.
There is a 10mm plank, known as a a skid pad, under the floor which wears away during the race weekend as it comes into contact with the track. That is then measured after the race and it can only wear down by 1mm across the race weekend. Any more wear than that and the punishment is disqualification.
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How did Mercedes and Ferrari get it wrong?
Cars cannot be touched once they have entered what is known as the parc fermé. That happens after the practice sessions, so at that stage there can be no changes to the set-up.
With the weekend in Austin including a sprint race, teams only had one hour to perfect their car set-up on Friday afternoon, which would then serve them for the rest of the weekend. The Circuit of the Americas is a very bumpy track (many of the drivers called for it to be resurfaced after the race) which will likely have compounded the problems for any car running too low to the ground. That Hamilton and Leclerc were found to be in breach would suggest their chosen set-up was to run the car lower but a miscalculation, even a minuscule one, during the set-up, which then couldn’t be changed, cost them their race result.
Why run the car low?
Teams run the car as low as possible to get an aerodynamic advantage. The cars generate downforce from underneath the car, known as “ground effect”, so the lower they run, the more downforce created. However, it has also created the phenomenon known as “porpoising” — the car is sucked into the track and the airflow “stalls” so the car rises, which creates bouncing. The FIA imposed a limit on the vertical oscillations for the safety of the drivers. The FIA can see, from the onboard footage in particular, when there is excessive bouncing, which could also impact wear under the car.
Why only test four cars?
As the dust settled, questions were asked why the other 13 finishers weren’t also looked at.
Simply put, there is not enough time for the FIA to do it. The mechanics need the cars back to dismantle them and get them shipped to the next race. With Austin the start of three back-to-back races without a weekend off, there is very little time to play with. The checks are random and the punishment is in place to act as a deterrent to anyone else breaching the regulations, not that any team would do it deliberately. It may seem unfair but that is the argument of the FIA.
Can it be appealed?
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In theory, yes. Both teams have that option available to them but, speaking to both, neither seem inclined to appeal. In this case it is black and white in the regulations and the only outcome is disqualification. The FIA stated that it had taken into account that the track was bumpy and the limited practice time but that the “onus is on the competitor to ensure that the car is in
compliance with the regulations at all times”.
Was the new upgrade for Mercedes at fault?
It’s a difficult one to determine. It could be that the new floor affected the set-up. Having never used it before they weren’t 100 per cent certain how it would run but, in reality, it is unlikely that this was the issue. Ferrari did not bring upgrades and they suffered the same fate with Leclerc. The new Mercedes floor is about improving aerodynamics by affecting the airflow around and under the car, so it is possible they miscalculated based on that, but it would be impossible to say for certain given the other factors involved.
