The FIA has disqualified both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from F1 US GP after technical breach as the former loses podium.
It all looked good post the F1 US GP until the FIA document where the technical delegate referred a technical breach against Mercedes’ Hamilton and Ferrari’s Leclerc in the post-race checks, where cars of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris were also checked for the same.
It was related to the planks and wear on them where Verstappen and Norris passed those checks. “A physical floor and a plank wear inspection was carried out on car numbers 16 and 44,” the note stated. “The skids located in the area -825 ≥ XR ≥ – 1025 are found to be not in compliance with Article 3.5.9 e) of the 2023 Formula One Technical Regulations.”
Considering the bumpy condition of the Circuit of the Americas, the F1 teams did have higher wear on their body work throughout the weekend. But unfortunately, Hamilton and Leclerc got caught out for the thickness of the plank assembly.
It must be 10mm +- 0.2mm where after wear, the FIA will accept 9mm as well. But both the cars of Hamilton and Leclerc did not meet the requirement. As a result of this, both are disqualified where they lose second and sixth respectively which is a major loss of points.
The teams cited the nature of the circuit with bumps along with sprint weekend, but the FIA noted that the onus is on the teams to be thorough with it. This promotes McLaren’s Lando Norris to second with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz is in third on the podium.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez is now fourth from Mercedes’ George Russell in fifth, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in sixth, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in seventh, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in eighth and the Williams pair of Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant in ninth and 10th.
It is therefore first points for Sargeant in his home race amid talks about his future in F1, as Nico Hulkenberg ends up 11th, Valtteri Bottas is 12th, Zhou Guanyu is 13th, Kevin Magnussen is 14th and Daniel Ricciardo is 15th.
Here’s FIA note for Lewis Hamilton: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20United%20States%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Infringement%20-%20Car%2044%20-%20Technical%20non-compliance%20(Plank).pdf
Here’s FIA note for Charles Leclerc: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2023%20United%20States%20Grand%20Prix%20-%20Infringement%20-%20Car%2016%20-%20Technical%20non-compliance%20(Plank).pdf
Here’s how F1 US GP panned out
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