Leclerc and Hamilton, here’s the disqualification
For Ferrari and Mercedes fans who have already gone to sleep, it will be a bitter awakening. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have indeed been disqualified from the United States Grand Prix due to irregularities found in the undertray of their cars at the end of the race.
The Stewards’ Announcement
The official sanction was announced at 2:20 AM Italian time. Here are the documents confirming the disqualification of the two drivers.
After the end of the Grand Prix, Mercedes and Ferrari underwent an examination by FIA’s technical delegate Jo Bauer, who detected irregularities in the undertray. In particular, the wear of the undertray was found to be non-compliant with Article 3.5.9 e) of the technical regulations, which stipulates that the cars’ plank must have a minimum thickness of nine millimeters. Both Mercedes and Ferrari acknowledged that Bauer’s measurement was correct and that the wear of the undertray exceeded the allowed threshold.
The attempts by the two teams to justify the excessive wear of the undertray due to track irregularities and the Sprint format’s unique nature, which minimized the time for modifying the car’s setup, were in vain. Hamilton and Leclerc lose their second and sixth places, with Lando Norris (advancing to second place), Carlos Sainz (securing a podium), and Sergio Perez (holding off the British driver for second place in the World Championship) benefiting the most. For the first time this season, Logan Sargeant enters the top 10: he is the first American to score points since Michael Andretti in Monza 1993.
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