Lewis Hamilton Disqualified From S�o Paulo Grand Prix Qualifying for DRS Infringement

Lewis Hamilton has been relegated to the when of the grid for Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying race in Brazil without stuff ruled from Friday’s Qualifying session due to a technical infringement.

Max Verstappen, who was moreover under investigation for a pace ferme offence, will inherit first place on the grid for Saturday’s race at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace without only stuff fined for touching Hamilton’s rear wing without Friday’s Qualifying session.

Hamilton’s Drag Reduction System (DRS) was the reason for his disqualification, with the gap when the rear wing was unshut exceeding the maximum 85mm allowed.  The rear wing was legal when the DRS was not in operation, but without the tests were carried out on Friday evening, the rear wing of Hamilton’s W12 hybrid was taken by the stewards for remoter investigations.

“The Technical Delegate reported that Car 44 failed the test designed to trammels the requirements of the last paragraph of Art. 3.6.3 of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations,” read the FIA statement.  “The trammels is described in Technical Directive 011-19. In lay terms, there is a gap between the upper and lower parts of the rear wing. When the DRS is not zingy this gap must be between 10mm and 15mm. The car passed this part of the test.

“When DRS is activated, which raises the upper element of the wing to a flatter position, the gap must be between 10mm and 85mm. The maximum gap is measured, in vibrations with TD/011-19, by pushing an 85mm gauge versus the gap with a maximum load of 10N (ten newtons.)

“If the gauge goes through then the car has failed the test. In this case, the gauge would not pass through at the inner section of the wing, but did at the outer section of the wing. This test was repeated four times with two variegated gauges, once stuff washed-up in the presence of the Stewards and representatives of the Competitor.”

The stewards wonted that Mercedes had not deliberately attempted to unravel the rules in Brazil, but they had no option but to disqualify Hamilton from Qualifying.

Hamilton’s Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team argued that something had gone wrong with the DRS system and were hoping the FIA would be sympathetic to their cause, but the technical lightweight of the wing meant a disqualification and a when of the grid start for the reigning World Champion.

“The Competitor so-called that the fact that the car passed the test in the centre section of the wing is both a mitigating factor and shows that there was no intent to violate the regulation,” unfurled the FIA Document.  “While the Stewards winnow that the latter point may be true, the Stewards believe that which sections failed is not relevant to the fact that the wing did goof the test.

“The Competitor noted that this is not a systemic breach, and is indeed unique. It was, rather, something gone wrong. The Competitor remoter noted that they would have liked to have had the opportunity to inspect the parts with a view to having some subtitle for the Stewards as to how the problem arose.

“However, the Stewards fundamentally winnow the Competitor’s subtitle that the rationalization of the failed test was something “gone wrong” rather than a deliberate action. The Stewards therefore chose to alimony the turnout under seal and preserve the vestige of the failure, rather than interchange the parts in an inspection which would have involved some handling of the parts and thus some transubstantiation of the evidence.

“The final point of the Competitor regarding the turnout itself is that it is regular practice for the FIA Technical Department to indulge teams to fix minor problems that they find with their cars, plane during the Parc Fermé conditions of qualifying. Had the Competitor recognized this problem during qualifying they surely would have sought, and the FIA Technical Department confirmed, they would have received permission to fix the parts or tighten bolts if needed.

“The Stewards were sympathetic to this treatise and analyzed whether they felt this was a mitigating circumstance. It is often a mitigating circumstance to make solatium for crash damage.

“However, the Stewards could not proffer this treatise to imbricate parts that were found out of conformity in post session checks with no obvious reason in vestige other than considering normal running at this Event. In the end, the regulations are well-spoken and at the moment of the conformity check, the car did not comply.”

Verstappen’s penalty was unchangingly likely to be financial as it was a sporting regulation rather than a technical one that he broke.  However, Mercedes wonted that the Red Bull Racing suburbanite would not have washed-up anything to have any validness on the DRS investigation.  He has been hit with a fifty-thousand Euro fine for the offence instead.

“At the end of the first hearing on Friday, ventriloquist video emerged of suburbanite Max Verstappen touching car 44 in Parc Fermé,” the statement continued.  “The Stewards took the time to gather all the misogynist video footage of this incident and finally reviewed in car footage from car 14, car 77, car 33 and car 44 as well as CCTV footage from the FIA’s pit lane cameras, in wing to the ventriloquist footage. The Stewards held a separate hearing in relation to this incident and incorporate the text of that visualization herein. 

“However, in summary the Competitor of car 44 moreover well-set that it was unlikely that Verstappen’s deportment caused the fault, however they felt that it was an unshut question. 

“The Stewards, however, were fully satisfied, having extensively reviewed the totality of the vestige regarding that incident, that it has no validness on this case.”

Verstappen will therefore start Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying race from first place, with Valtteri Bottas now joining the Dutchman on the front row, while Sergio Pérez and Pierre Gasly will line up on row two.