“Mood,” wrote Lewis Hamilton on Instagram as he captioned his shared misery with his then-future teammate Charles Leclerc on Oct 23, 2023. The latter had accepted the collaboration and the grief, as his woes mirrored those of the 7x champion.
Yet two years in, it’s hard not to look back and wonder what exactly happened at the 2023 Austin Grand Prix that left the future Ferrari duo so dejected?
Why Were Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc Disqualified 2 Years Ago?
In 2023, when Hamilton was still seeking the top step of the podium with Mercedes, he finished a brilliant second, breathing down the triumphant Max Verstappen all the way to the line. Notably, he had been running a new floor at this event, Silver Arrows bringing their last major upgrade package of the year to Austin.
From the parallel garage, Leclerc had crossed the line in sixth, only fractions of a second ahead of George Russell after falling back in the late stages on the less favored one-stop strategy.
As half the fans went off to celebrate and the other half to sleep, bad news awaited them in the Stewards’ room. Following the race in Austin, the cars of the protagonists in this story were inspected, and the FIA Technical team identified irregularities after a plank wear inspection was conducted.
After the chequered flag, the FIA scrutinized Hamilton’s Mercedes and Leclerc’s Ferrari and found them to be in breach of Article 3.5.9. e), which relates to wear on the plank on the car’s underside.
The article stated: “The thickness of the plank assembly measured normal to the lower surface must be 10mm [plus or minus] 0.2mm and must be uniform when new.
“A minimum thickness of 9mm will be accepted due to wear, and conformity to this provision will be checked at the peripheries of the designated holes.”
In the verdict, the stewards said “the high wear on the skid pads was probably a result of the unique combination of the bumpy track and the sprint race schedule that minimized the time to set up and check the car before the race.”
The FIA uses a resin-coated wooden plank attached to the underside of F1 cars to monitor ride height and discourage teams from using setups that might compromise safety.
Lowering a car can improve performance, but also increase the risk of the plank grinding against the track and wearing down.
The car is considered non-compliant if the plank’s thickness falls below 9mm at any of the four designated inspection points, resulting in disqualification.
Following the 2023 U.S. Grand Prix, four cars were randomly inspected for excessive plank wear: Verstappen, Lando Norris (who moved up to second after Hamilton’s disqualification), Hamilton, and Leclerc.
This rewind is interesting and relevant as plank wear persists as a nightmare for the two drivers who are now teammates at Scuderia Ferrari.