F1 2023 United States GP: Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc disqualified due to a technical violation

Lewis Hamilton has had a “miserable” 2023 year, and his misfortunes continued to grow as he got disqualified from the US GP race yesterday. The seven-time World Champion strived to his full potential during the race, giving a heated battle to Max Verstappen, the “Beast” of the F1 Industry as well.

However, upon inspecting Mercedes’s plank wear, the FIA issued that it did not fall under the guidance rules, leading to Hamilton being disqualified from Sunday’s race, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc facing the same fate.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been disqualified

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, despite gunning for the pole, were ultimately disqualified from the race held at the Circuit of the Americas. The skids on the bottom of each of their cars, fixed in such a way as to maintain the required minimum ground clearance for F1 cars, had deteriorated to the extent that they no longer complied with Formula 1 regulations.

Spokespersons from Mercedes and Ferrari engaged with Technical Delegate Jo Bauer, FIA Single Seater Director Nikolas Tombazis, and FIA Single Seater Technical Director Tim Goss, along with both the teams admitting that the measurements taken by the FIA were indeed, correct.

They did not stop their efforts and urged the high wear rate on the skid pads was “probably a result of the unique combination of the bumpy track and the Sprint race schedule that minimised the time to set up and check the car before the race.”

However, with both the teams’ car conditions not aligning with the Technical regulations, both of them were disqualified from the race.

Hamilton’s disqualification resulted in Norris into second place, along with dragging Carlos Sainz onto the podium.

“It is of course disappointing to be disqualified post-race but that doesn’t take away from the progress we’ve made this weekend,” Hamilton exclaimed at Mercedes post-press conference.

The British driver had also unveiled surprising post-retirement plans amid high praise from Mercedes, as per the reports. Troubles keep on occurring for the seven-time World Champion as he was fined  $26,412 at the Qatar GP too.

F1 fans reaction to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc disqualifications

Hamilton’s fans had hoped that the US GP would be a turning point of the British driver, since Verstappen started dominating him.

They were immensely disappointed by his disqualification, claiming that it was “not fair” to make a small thing such an issue pointing out to the FIA.

Some of their reactions were:

“A great race gone to waste”

“That’s saddening. It’s so irresponsible of team. Lewis has lot crucial points for the championship 2nd place fight.”

“I mean come on, this is simple stuff guys. Just ruined an amazing weekend for Lewis. Awful.”

Fans did not hesitate to criticize Ferrari as well for Charles’ disqualification:

Do you think it was fair for the FIA to disqualify both of the drivers at the US GP? Let us know in the comment section below.