23 October 2023 , 07:00
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Once again the outcome of a Formula 1 race has changed hours after the chequered flag was flown.
This time it was for a dramatic double disqualification. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished the United States Grand Prix second and sixth respectively, but were stripped of those places after their cars failed post-race checks.
Why? Because the rear skids – part of the plank found underneath an F1 car – were found to have experienced too much wear. So they were thinner than the regulations allow, meaning the cars were in breach of the sport's incredibly detailed technical rules.
As soon as that is established, there is only ever likely to be one outcome. And the stewards were left with no choice but to disqualify both of the cars from the race.
It's certainly not the first time a similar thing has happened. Michael Schumacher was disqualified from the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix for an illegal floor, allowing Damon Hill to win the race that day.
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And Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was quick to hold his hands up. "Others got it right where we got it wrong and there's no wiggle room in the rules. We need to take it on the chin, do the learning, and come back stronger next weekend," said the Austrian.
The skids had worn over the course of a Sprint race weekend on an exceptionally bumpy track. Several drivers complained about it after the race, including winner Max Verstappen who stated his belief that, as much as he loves the layout of the COTA circuit, it is "not F1 level".
No-one can or will reasonably argue that Hamilton and Leclerc should not have been disqualified. As Wolff and the F1 stewards said, it is the responsibility of the teams to make sure that their cars are compliant with the regulations at all times, even accounting for excessive wear.
Hamilton's Mercedes car failed a post-race inspection (AP)But this process has raised a concern about the fairness of the post-race scrutineering procedure. A variety of cars were checked in lots of different ways after the Grand Prix, as is normal procedure. But FIA documents show a "physical floor and a plank wear inspection" was only carried out on four of them.
This is not unusual. The checks are in place to act as a deterrent for teams to stop them from trying to flout the rules. Cars are selected at random and, in this case, the four cars which had their floors and planks inspected happened to be the top three finishers and the pole-sitter.
That meant, as well as Hamilton and Leclerc, race-winner Verstappen and Lando Norris, who finished third but later inherited second after the disqualifications, also had the floors of their cars scrutinised. But they passed the inspection and so were not disqualified.
Charles Leclerc was also disqualified (Getty Images)So four cars had their floors and planks checked. That means there were 13 more cars which all finished the race but which did not go through the same inspection. And, given the 50 percent fail rate among the admittedly small sample size of four, that is a concern.
It is not unreasonable to assume that, given two of the four cars inspected in this way failed the test, there is a high chance that there were more cars out on track at COTA on Sunday which were also not compliant with the regulations, but no-one spotted it.
And that raises questions over the sporting integrity of the result. You could not blame Hamilton and Leclerc for feeling aggrieved that they were disqualified while others who may have flouted the same rule got away with it because nobody looked. The Ferrari driver seems to feel that way, given a tweet pointing out that unfairness was liked by his account.
Verstappen and his Red Bull team may have won the titles already, but there is still plenty to play for in the final weeks of this season. Hamilton is breathing down the neck of Sergio Perez in the drivers' standings and would have narrowed the gap further if his result stood, but his disqualification allowed the Mexican to give himself some breathing space.
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But, for all we know, Perez might also have had excessive wear on the rear skids of his Red Bull. We cannot assume that there was, of course, but the problem is that we also cannot be certain that there wasn't. If Perez beats Hamilton to second place by a narrow margin by the end of the year, it may be down to the fact that no-one inspected the floor of his car after the Texas race.
Wolff said his Mercedes team will learn from its mistakes and change the way it works to make sure its cars remain compliant with the rules. Perhaps the FIA should also tweak its scrutineering process to make sure everyone's machines are looked at in the same way.