'Most Annoying For Lewis Hamilton': Glock Talks About United States Grand Prix Disqualification

Thursday, 26 October 2023 at 23:00

hamilton lewis mercedes car wolfgangwilhelm1

Former F1 driver Timo Glock recently commented on Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton being disqualified from the 2023 United States Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton had a successful weekend at the Circuit of the Americas when he qualified in third place during both qualifying sessions and then finished second in both races of the weekend.

Red Bull's Helmut Marko admitted "sensational" Hamilton could have troubled Verstappen had there been five more laps in Sunday's race.

However, the weekend turned sour for the seven-time World Champion after he got disqualified a few hours after the race. Consequently, Hamilton lost valuable points in the fight for second place in the Drivers' Championship.

The reason for the Mercedes driver's disqualification was the plank on the floor of his car that had been worn down too much after the race.

Read also

Verstappen Would Beat Hamilton Even In Same Car According To Villadelprat

Every single car on the grid has a "wooden" plank located in the middle of the floor of their car that is there to prevent cars from using too much downforce.

The plank will be scratched whenever the car's floor hits the track. If the plank wear exceeds the maximum wear prescribed by the rules, the car driver gets disqualified. Writing for Sky Germany, Timo Glock explained:

"Of course, you always try to keep the vehicle height as low as possible. In Austin, the big problem was that the track was so uneven and the cars touched down very often."

Besides Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari's driver Charles Leclerc also got disqualified. In his case, reports say the plank was a few hundreds of millimeter below the rules.

"The two cars were apparently a few millimetres too low, which was the crucial point that the underbody was no longer within the tolerance range at the respective measuring points."

Glock says this can happen when a team tries to "push the envelope." Before the disqualification, Hamilton closed the gap with Sergio Perez to 19 points, now it's 39.

"That can happen when you push the envelope. Too bad for Mercedes and Ferrari, but probably most annoying for Lewis Hamilton, which also affects the drivers' championship against Sergio Perez."