The FIA stewards have disqualified Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen from Formula 1’s US Grand Prix.
Ocon finished eighth in the race with Magnussen in ninth close behind – both being chased by Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez, who now gets promoted to eighth with Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson also moving up.
The Kiwi is ninth as he registers his best result in F1, while Ericsson scores yet another 10th place finish – his sixth of his career. It also moves McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne to 11th followed by Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin & Lance Stroll.
Immediately as the race finished, the stewards put Ocon under investigation for breaching the fuel limit rule. It was eventually found that Ocon’s ‘fuel mass flow exceeded 100 kg/hr during Lap 1 of the race’ which resulted in a straight disqualification.
The stewards reviewed the telemetry data from Ocon’s car and heard from the driver and the team as well but they deemed that it had breached the Article 5.1.4 of FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.
The Dane, meanwhile, was put under investigation nearly an hour after the race finished on a fuel related issue. It was found that ‘the amount of fuel consumed exceeded 105kg during the race’ which again is a straight disqualification.
The stewards heard from the driver and the team representative but deemed that it was a breach of the Article 30.5 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations. The change in result has a bearing on the points table.
The gap between Force India (46) and McLaren (58) is now to 12 points as opposed to 10 in the constructors’ standings for sixth while Toro Rosso (32) is four ahead of Sauber (28) for eighth with three races remaining.
