Formula 1 stewards explained they had no choice but to disqualify Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from the United States Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen won the Austin race but he was only a couple of seconds ahead of Hamilton when he took the chequered flag. The seven-time world champion was gaining in the final few laps but ran out of time before he could catch his rival.
Not that it mattered, in the end. After his Mercedes failed a post-race FIA scrutineering check, Hamilton was referred to the stewards. And Leclerc's sixth-placed finish was also under threat after a similar problem was discovered on his Ferrari.
The likely outcome was clear from the moment that became apparent. The measurement of the rear skids on both cars had to be verified, but once that had happened then disqualification was inevitable.
The stewards hinted as much as they explained Hamilton's punishment in an official decision document. And the wording was identical for another referring to Leclerc's individual case – both drivers removed from the race classification for the same 'offences'.
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The FIA document read: "During the hearing the team acknowledged that the measurement performed by the FIA Technical Team was correct and stated that the high wear on the skid pads was probably a result of the unique combination of the bumpy track and the Sprint race schedule that minimized the time to set up and check the car before the race.
"The Stewards note that the onus is on the competitor to ensure that the car is in compliance with the regulations at all times during an event. In this particular case, the rear skid in the area defined in the Technical Delegate’s report was outside of the thresholds outlined in Article 3.5.9 e) of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations, which includes a tolerance for wear. Therefore, the standard penalty for a breach of the Technical Regulations is imposed."
Reacting to the news, Hamilton clearly did not want it to take the gloss off his team's improved pace in Austin. "It is of course disappointing to be disqualified post-race, but that doesn't take away from the progress we've made this weekend," he said bluntly.
Team principal Toto Wolff was slightly less brief as he held his hands up and admitted the team was at fault. "Set-up choices on a sprint weekend are always a challenge with just one hour of free practice – and even more so at a bumpy circuit like COTA and running a new package.
"In the end, all of that doesn't matter – 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."
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