Mercedes explains what she learned from her disqualification in the American F1 GP, what caused it, and how she handled the moment and her strategy.
What looked like a promising weekend for Mercedes at the updated US F1 GP for 2024 ended with Lewis Hamilton disqualified for second place. George’s Russell moved up in the standings but lost points.
Hamilton is fighting for second place in the overall standings with Sergio Perez, but Mercedes is defending second place from Ferrari in the constructors’ race. The sprint weekend, combined with the bumpy nature of the Circuit of the Americas, proved difficult for some cars.
It is unclear how many cars failed the post-race plank test, but the FIA said Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s cars were among the four cars randomly checked for the required number. It pointed out. It was just an unfortunate situation.
James Allison said in his post-race analysis that he checked the board after the first FP and everything looked fine. So they opted for the setup they used, but it ended up not being enough to take the lead and by the end of the race they were far behind.
It was unfortunate for Mercedes, but they had to endure and after a few days they were fine again. Allison also discussed the strategic aspects of Hamilton and Russell driving long distances in an attempt to make a stop, but it was clear that it would not be possible.
Planck’s situation and history –
Mercedes: “Sliding blocks are basically small metal discs embedded in the planks.The thickness at the end of the race must be guaranteed.Thickness at the start of the race is 10mm, but must be at least 9mm thick at the end of the race. Some erosion of the underrun protection due to contact with the ground is allowed, but not more than 1mm, otherwise the vehicle If the vehicle height is found to be less than 9mm during inspection, it will be considered too low and will be disqualified, which is exactly what happened in our case. This weekend showed absolute confidence in what we put into the car, which gives us great hope for the upcoming races. However, the disqualification had everything to do with the set-up and course irregularities, made worse by the fact that it was a sprint weekend. There are typically three untimed sessions on a race weekend. Free practice 1, 2, 3. Here we will gradually improve the car setup and prepare for Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.
“In this training phase, we will try to get you the car as quickly, reliably and legally as possible and ensure that you meet all the criteria to quickly get your car through to the end of the weekend.” In parc fermé What it looked like when I went there. On sprint weekends, you’ll be under more pressure. At the beginning of the weekend he only has one hour. In Free Practice 1 you have to prepare your car for the next session (Qualifying), the next session (Sprint Shootout), the next session (Sprint Race) and the race itself. This person will roll the dice after one hour has passed. . Once you’ve chosen your setup, you’ll need to run the rest of the weekend using the money you wagered on his one-hour run. This means much less time than usual to evaluate things and much less time to take corrective action before the remaining meetings later this weekend.
“Austin is a track with a very uneven surface, so it’s easy to hit the ground.” At the end of free practice 1, he didn’t have a big enough lead. Once the setup was complete I checked the board and after the FP1 run everything was fine and nothing seemed to be wrong. But the race results speak for themselves. Since we were illegal, we obviously should have set the car a little higher to give us a little more leeway. This is a mistake, of course, but an understandable one on sprint weekends, where it’s much harder to get things right, especially on bumpy tracks. But it was a lesson for us going forward, to make sure we get more leads, especially on such a bumpy track. ”
Strategic decision to keep Lewis Hamilton out –
Mercedes: You should have. We should have pitted with Lewis, we should have stayed at the front and we would have had a better chance of winning. But it’s good to understand where we’re coming from and understand a little more about the strategist’s dilemma. As we talked about the race that morning, we thought: The previous day’s sprint He knew that they were pretty fast in the race, but he also knew that Max was right in front of him. Austin is a track where cars are typically distributed in order of pace when the checkered flag drops at the end of Sunday. So we didn’t actually expect to be in the same race as Max. We thought he would find a way to get through the field. That was the first thing on my mind as I put in the laps during my first stint on Sunday.
“Secondly, after analyzing the route and how the weekend had played out so far, we had assumed that the race would most likely be a two-stop race.” The tires were heavily worn. , a stop race that results in a two-stop race. However, on race day we saw a drop in power and lap times and didn’t discount the possibility of changing from a two-stop race to a one-stop race. The first stint was good. We were able to pass these two Ferraris of his, and they were going as fast as Max or slightly faster than the previous McLaren. When Max stopped, we knew he would beat us after a few laps. That wasn’t surprising. But we were in the optimistic phase and seeing Lewis posting flat lap times, we thought this might be the case. We weren’t going to beat Max by just doing what he did. Because we knew he was faster than us in sprint races. I felt that if he could make that one stop, he could win. That’s why I didn’t cover Max.
“We put Lewis out and waited to see what would happen. We were hoping and expecting the trend of flat lap times to continue.” A lap that was effectively undercut and the pace I tried to see if it was okay. It’s developing exactly as we hoped. Unfortunately, within a very short period of time, we lost the ability to protect ourselves from Max and Lewis’ lap times and Lewis started to turn south and when we turned, we lost the ability to protect ourselves from Max and Lewis’ lap times and when we turned, we I experienced the same deterioration. -Stop stop. In fact, we wanted to cover him because the speed of the car was fast enough to race him on a level playing field, but against his two stoppers we Had he placed two stoppers, it might have been a different race. ”
Ups and downs after the race –
Mercedes: “Of course the disqualification is a big blow. It feels miserable. It hurts and everyone here feels it. Who I’m upset and more than a little embarrassed because the last thing I want is to just complain about ignoring the rules and conceding a goal. It will be replaced by a feeling of happiness, which means we moved the car forward this weekend, which is hard to do. But we did it to a great extent. And with four races left in the championship, I’m confident that with four races left we’ll stay on the right side of the skid block rule. Initial feelings of heartache, disappointment, and frustration have been replaced by beaming optimism. Because we know the car fits well with this upgrade package and we still have four races left to show what we can do with it. ”
This is the duel between Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton
Here’s Mercedes, Ferrari reacting to DQ
Here’s what the FIA said about the DQ
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