Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been disqualified from second place and sixth place in Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix after their cars were found to be in breach of Formula One rules in post-race inspections. The FIA technical team ruled that the rear titanium skid blocks on both drivers’ floor planks showed excessive wear after the 56-lap race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (COTA), meaning they no longer met the required minimum thickness under the regulations.
The Mercedes duo had finished the race behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who claimed his 50th career victory, with Hamilton running the Dutchman hard. But their results were later stripped by a ruling that the underfloor planks on both of their Mercedes W14s were thinner than the rules allow, with the team having been referred to the FIA by the technical delegate following the race.
Mercedes accepted their punishment, and neither driver will appeal the ruling. It means that Verstappen will be awarded the win, and Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate and former world champion Sebastian Vettel gets second. In contrast, Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate and current championship leader Charles Sainz moves up to third. Hamilton said he was “disappointed” by the ruling, but it did not diminish their progress on a weekend where they had shown the fastest pace of any of the teams.
During the hearing, Mercedes technical director Andrew Shovlin and reliability chief Richard Lane defended their drivers before the four stewards investigating the issue. They explained that both drivers had suffered high levels of wear on their floor planks because of the bumpy nature of the COTA track and the limited amount of practice time available in Austin due to the sprint format of the event. However, the stewards rejected that argument and imposed the standard penalty.
The stewards added that the Mercedes team had not notified their drivers of the requirement to keep the rear skid blocks on the floor at a minimum height. The FIA’s rulebook states that the blocks bolted to the underfloor plank and regulate the minimum ride height can protrude from the floor by up to 3mm. This protects the planks and floors from damage when the car bottoms out over uneven surfaces. The team had been unable to rectify the situation by the end of the race because replacing the worn pads with new ones at the trackside was impossible. This meant the car was deemed illegal, and Hamilton and Leclerc were disqualified. It also prompted the Williams pair of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant to step into points positions, with the Americans finishing ninth and 10th, respectively. It was the first time an American had finished in the top 10 of a Formula One race since Michael Andretti in 1993. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had already signaled his acceptance of the result after the race, saying the team would not fight the ruling.
