The hectic nature of a Sprint weekend may well be the key reason behind Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc getting disqualified from Sunday’s 2023 United States Grand Prix, with Aston Martin boss Mike Krack‘s thoughts on the matter suggesting as such.
Hamilton and Leclerc both scored points at the race in Austin, with the former notching a podium in his hunt to take second place from Sergio Perez in the driver standings.
However, his chances of doing so have suffered a dent with him thrown out of the classification from Sunday’s race, alongside Leclerc, for a wear infringement on the wooden plank under the car.
FIA regulations state that planks must wear no more than 1mm over the course of a race but both Hamilton and Leclerc exceeded this measurement, and so they leave the US without any points to show for their Sunday efforts.
Mike Krack suggests Sprint weekend to blame for Hamilton and Leclerc DSQs
A disappointing result for them, and Aston Martin chief Krack’s thoughts on the matter may well point at the fact the hectic nature of the Sprint has led to these disqualifications.
“[Ride height] is one of the issues with a Sprint weekend,” Krack said to the press. “You know you have to do the Sprint and the race and two qualifyings and you can wear one mm and you have to run low.
“It’s tough [to find the right ride height]… you always have a risk.”
Indeed, the statement from the FIA around the ruling to throw both drivers out suggests that the congested schedule was indeed, at least partially, to blame for the ruling.
The statement read: “During the hearing the team acknowledged that the measurement performed by the FIA Technical Team was correct and stated that 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 minimised the time to set up and check the car before the race.”
