Some of the most spectacular images are formula 1 This phenomenon occurs on circuits at night, when cars touch the ground at full speed and sparks fly. And that’s exactly what disqualification goes hand-in-hand with. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the F1 American Grand Prix Sunday race. Lewis finished second in Austin, but the result was invalidated, so he relinquished the second place spot. Lando Norris, third is Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard achieved his third podium in 2023. All of this is due to technical violations of the regulations. mercedes English and ferrari Hailing from Monaco (he finished 6th), this has a lot to do with the hugely popular Sparks.

When these jump, many fans may think there is a problem with the car and that something is dangerous, but it is quite the opposite. This effect was needed to give the battle more grandeur. How do I get it? What is surprising here is that there is a wooden plate on the bottom of the car. called “skating”, “skiing” or more accurately “planking”.

The titanium slide block featured on the essential board was chosen because it produces an incredible spark. But to the aesthetic features of this wood nameplate is added an even more practical feature. The FIA ​​places these plates at the bottom of the car to limit the aerodynamic work teams can develop in that area.and above all, Ensure all vehicles maintain a minimum distance from the ground. And that’s exactly why Hamilton and Leclerc were left out.

To ensure that the car is not glued to the ground, the FIA ​​has set the minimum thickness of the wooden plates according to clear regulations. Must be 10 mm at the start of the race. And because they know that this element is likely to rub against the asphalt or the piano at some point, they allow up to 1 millimeter of wear to occur on that wood. If someone can overcome that erosion, it is Disqualification. And that’s what happened to Hamilton and Leclerc.

Why did they “capture” only Leclerc and Hamilton?

The FIA ​​carries out many post-race inspections, but it is impossible to examine all parameters of every car. Similar to random “anti-doping” controls in other sports, not all athletes or participants are tested. In fact, the wood flooring is not something that can be found at all Grand Prix cars. And in Austin, which was an important aspect, it was done. In this case, after the American GP, They only measured the floor of the first three cars and another car, namely Leclerc. The Monegasques and the British were unlucky.

A big problem, a big problem for everyone in Austin

The team aims to run as close to the ground as possible to achieve more downforce and greater cornering speed. But at a circuit like Austin, What happened to Hamilton and Leclerc was something that could have happened before this GP and could have scared the teams.

On a circuit full of potholes, everyone tried to stick to the ground, but at the same time Find the perfect compromise by increasing the height of your car to avoid bouncing over potholes or getting disqualified due to excessive friction with asphalt or curbs.

Unlike other weekends, Being a sprint-style GP, engineers had just an hour of free practice to find the perfect ride height and car settings for qualifying and the race.

With little time to perform tests and calculations, two of the best teams in the Championship made costly mistakes.. The height of the car also depends on the gasoline used. As the load capacity increases, the vehicle height becomes lower. It also depends on whether DRS is used. And to be precise, in FP1 no one was testing the car for long runs under stress to simulate race conditions.

There are multiple variables to check and it all becomes very complex in an hour. In F1, every millimeter counts and that was clear here too. Thousands of aspects that teams must manage It can completely change what happens in one weekend.

doubt

The question remains: what would have happened if the FIA ​​had reviewed every car on the grid, rather than just four, to carry out this test? The only thing that is clear is that the floors of the cars of Verstappen (winner) and originally third place Lando Norris were also inspected and passed the measurements as per regulations.

Red Bull and McLaren were not wrong. They performed perfectly within the rules. This perfection is key, even more so than the fact that McLaren had the fastest ever pit stop at the last Qatar Grand Prix, or the fact that Red Bull has hardly failed at anything this year. It is no coincidence that they were not wrong on this point either. The better your car performs, the more room you have to maneuver and the fewer mistakes you make. Mercedes caught up with McLaren this weekend, but perhaps Hamilton should have taken more risks to take advantage of the height of his car.

Also, was it all due to the ride height chosen for Leclerc and Hamilton’s cars, and did their team-mates initially use the same ride height, or was it on the contrary that Lewis and Charles’ driving was more or less aggressive? There is also the problem of knowing whether it was. , had something to look at is that final disqualification.