Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the podium following late drama at the US GP, which involved stewards revoking his car’s position due to a bargeboard rule infringement. Lewis arguably had his best weekend and came closer to winning in these two years than ever. Out of the 4 cars that had to go through inspection, Lewis Hamilton’s car was the car that got disqualified with Charles Leclerc’s car.
Lewis Hamilton was ultimately disappointed with the decision, as it certainly didn’t favor his bid to get a second place in the driver’s championship. The W14 received new upgrades, which appeared to boost Lewis’s confidence in the car leading up to the US GP.
Hamilton Claims Other Cars Broke Regulations at US GP
Lewis Hamilton did not provide any defense for his car breaking the rules, but he pointed out the unfairness of the situation by claiming that other cars, besides his and Charles’s, also violated the bargeboard regulations. Martin Brundle, one of the F1 presenters, made a statement that struck a chord with Lewis’s words. Earlier, Martin had pointed out that if 50% of the cars failed the initial test, then the entire paddock should be inspected to maintain fairness.
“I’ve heard from several different sources that there were a lot of other cars that also were illegal, but they weren’t tested so they got away with it,” he told media ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix.
“I’ve been racing here 16 years, there’s been times where there’s been many other scenarios like this where some people got away with certain things and some people have just been unlucky that they got tested.”
Lewis Hamilton disqualified despite second-place finish
Lewis Hamilton had a nearly perfect weekend, engaging in a fierce battle for victory against the struggling RB19. He reinforced his confidence in the new upgrades Mercedes had introduced for the W14. However, his celebrations were short-lived when a post-race technical inspection resulted in the disqualification of both Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.
As a result, Lewis lost his podium finish, and the second place was awarded to the now-promoted Lando Norris, who had previously secured a 3rd place in the 100th race.
Lewis considers the bumpy track in Austin, which has troubled other drivers like Max Verstappen a lot, a prime reason for the bargeboard problem that led to his disqualification even after a strong performance.
“That’s really the only reason that there are failures. It’s just because it’s so bumpy and some cars are able to some cars have better ride quality than others. Look at Charles’ head and my head. We had a pretty bad ride and our heads bumped around quite a lot because the cars hit the deck.”
What are your views about the partiality in technical inspections, and do you think it must’ve been applied to all cars in the paddock rather than a selected few?
