AUSTIN, Texas — Engineers from Mercedes and Ferrari say the restricted follow time afforded by F1’s dash format was a contributing issue within the pricey setup errors they made on the U.S. Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton was stripped of his second-place end on the Circuit of the Americas and Leclerc of his sixth-place end after each automobiles have been disqualified for extreme put on to the resin plank mounted to the underside of their automobiles.
The plank is product of a fabric that wears away because it skids alongside the observe floor, partly defending the underside of the automobile but additionally permitting the FIA to make sure a minimal experience peak is maintained.
Operating the automobile low to the bottom can yield extra efficiency from the underfloor aerodynamics, but additionally runs the chance of inducing doubtlessly harmful losses of downforce because the automobile bottoms out.
With the intention to make sure the automobiles run in a secure situation, the FIA screens plank put on by measuring 4 holes within the plank that have to be 10mm deep (+/- 0.2mm) at the beginning of the race and a minimum of 9mm deep on the finish of the race.
After the U.S. Grand Prix, the depth of the holes was checked on Hamilton’s Mercedes, Leclerc’s Ferrari, Max Verstappen’s race-winning Pink Bull and Lando Norris’ McLaren. Solely the Mercedes and Ferrari have been discovered to be in breach attributable to extreme put on to the plank materials, resulting in their disqualification.
The dash format, which was used for the fifth time