Lewis Hamilton and fellow F1 drivers have questioned whether more cars than those tested were running illegally due to excessive plank wear in Austin; watch Mexico City GP live this weekend on Sky Sports F1, with practice from 7.30pm on Friday. Sunday's race is at 8pm
Friday 27 October 2023 13:01, UK
Lewis Hamilton believes more cars other than just his and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc would have been disqualified from the United States GP due to excessive plank wear had post-race scrutineering checks been widened beyond just four cars.
Hamilton lost his second-place finish in Austin last Sunday after the skid blocks on his Mercedes were found to have worn too thin. Leclerc's Ferrari, which had finished sixth, fell foul of the same regulation.
Due to the nature of the FIA's long-standing random spot-check policy on certain areas of cars for rules compliance, only four cars were checked for their plank wear after the race - with half of them failing.
"Basically that was the first time we'd had a Sprint race there [in Austin] and they had only tested a few cars and 50 per cent of them got disqualified," said Hamilton to Sky Sports F1 ahead of this weekend's Mexico City GP.
"There are far more driver's cars that were illegal [but weren't checked].
"The skid is not a performance element. Of course, if you have a flat surface everyone is going to be pushing their car to be as low as possible. But it's mostly some cars handle the bumps better than others and you know we have had a very stiff and bumpy car for the last two years.
"But ultimately it failed the regulation and that needs to change."
Speaking to the written press later on Thursday, Hamilton continued: "Firstly, I've heard from several different sources that there were a lot of other cars that were also illegal, but they weren't tested so they got away with it.
"I've been racing here 16 years. There's been many other scenarios like this where some people have gotten away with certain things and some people have just been unlucky that they've got tested.
"So I think ultimately there probably needs to be some sort of better structure in terms of making sure it's fair and even across the board."
Other drivers agreed that had more cars been checked after the race in parc ferme then similar issues with plank wear would have been discovered.
Williams' Alex Albon said: "I do think maybe you don't need to check every car every race all the time.
"But if there's one driver in one team illegal there's a very, very high chance that the other car, the team-mate of that driver, is going to be illegal as well."
Lando Norris' McLaren was one of the two cars tested which was found to be within accepted limits for plank wear - Max Verstappen's race-winning Red Bull was the other - and it was the Briton who inherited second place from the excluded Hamilton.
"Always I guess a little bit surprised [to see the disqualifications]," Norris told Sky F1.
"I would have loved if they checked more cars."
Asked if this should therefore have been the case, Norris replied: "They should have done."
And Alpine's Esteban Ocon said: "I'm sure it's not the first time that there were cars illegal like that on such Sprint weekends.
"I think on the normal format it's a lot less likely to happen but I'm sure on the other races there was as well."
While all cars are weighed during parc-ferme scrutineering after a Grand Prix, and other compulsory checks are carried out too, different areas of the car are tested at every race on a random basis in order to test for compliance.
In an explainer piece published on the governing body's website on Thursday, the FIA outlined why it was impractical to test every single aspect of every car against the regulations each race weekend.
"In conducting these tests, a huge amount of work goes on in the limited time available after a Grand Prix finishes and before the cars need to be returned to their teams for disassembly and transportation to the next race," said the governing body.
"However, even though a wide array of checks are made, it is impossible to cover every parameter of every car in the short time available - and this is especially true of back-to-back race weekends when freight deadlines must also be considered.
"This is why the process of randomly selecting a number of cars for post-race scrutineering across various aspects of the regulations is so valuable. Each team is aware that selection is possible and understand that the chance of any lack of compliance being uncovered is strong."
World champion Verstappen sees the complications for the FIA in the scrutineering process, but nonetheless thinks that at least a team's second car should be checked too if the first falls foul of a technical rule.
"But then you only get the race result on Tuesday I guess, when you have to check every car," said Verstappen. "The problem is that it's just impossible to check everything.
"The thought process from every team is that no one wants to be illegal, so no one sets up their car to be illegal. But then of course you have these random checks that get carried out. Sometimes it's the top four, sometimes it's in the middle of the field, the back - that's just how it goes.
"You can't check every car for every single part, otherwise need 100 more people to do these kind of things.
"I think the only thing is that when you check one car of a team and it's illegal, then I think you should check the other one as well. That's for me the only thing. Because then you DQ one, and then the other one position moves up "a position where normally you always run quite similar setups."
Albon suggested: "I don't know how much it would take to check a couple more cars, but I don't think that would be such an issue. But I don't know, I'm not a scrutineer."
Mercedes and Ferrari accepted they made mistakes and were caught out in the setting up of their cars, on a Sprint weekend teams have to lock in their set-ups after just a single practice session. Normally, teams have three one-hour sessions to hone their cars for qualifying onwards and time to simulate more race-like conditions.
While accepting Mercedes got it wrong with their W14's ride height, Hamilton believes what he termed "ridiculous" post-race situations like the one last Sunday with cars being excluded could be more easily avoided.
"I think the sport really had such an amazing weekend, there was such a great turnout and a great race, and then every time we take steps forward within the sport something like that really taints it," he said.
"So we've got to do something. Hopefully they will learn a little bit for the future.
"Rather than checking everybody and over 50 per cent of the cars failing, which I would put all my money on it that they would have, instead maybe for example if we're having a Sprint race maybe we should just be able to change the skid [block] or the floor on Saturday night so on Sunday you don't have this ridiculous kind of event afterwards."
Friday 27 October
7pm: Mexico City GP Practice One
8:45pm: The F1 Show
10:45pm: Mexico City GP Practice Two (also on Sky Sports Main Event)
Saturday 28 October
6.15pm: Mexico City GP Practice Three
9pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying build-up (also on Sky Sports Main Event)
10pm: Mexico City GP Qualifying (also on Sky Sports Main Event)
Sunday 29 October
6.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday Mexico City GP build-up (also on Sky Sports Main Event)
8pm: The MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX (also on Sky Sports Main Event)
10pm: Chequered Flag: Mexico City GP
F1 is in Mexico for the middle leg of the Americas triple header. Watch the whole Mexico City Grand Prix weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday, with Sunday's race at 8pm. Stream F1 on Sky Sports with NOW
