Lewis Hamilton has claimed there were other drivers who should have been disqualified from last weekend’s United States Grand Prix for running an illegal car.
Hamilton was stripped of his second place after the floor on his upgraded Mercedes failed a post-race check. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who finished sixth, was also kicked out of the classification for an identical breach.
Hamilton’s floor flaw: how a plank of plastic ruined Mercedes’ US progressRead more
But Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who claimed his 15th win of the season, and the McLaren of Lando Norris, elevated to second after Hamilton’s penalty, were cleared of any wrongdoing.
However, speaking before this weekend’s race in Mexico City, Hamilton said: “I heard from several sources that there were a lot of other cars that were illegal and they were not tested so they got away with it.
“I have been racing here for 16 years and there have been many other scenarios like this where some people have got away with it, and some have been unlucky and have been tested.”
Hamilton said the sprint format in Austin – which allowed for only one hour of practice before parc ferme rules heavily constrict changes to the cars – coupled with the bumpy nature of the Circuit of the Americas were behind his disqualification.
Limited FIA resources means the governing body checks only a handful of cars after a race, and the selections are based on oscillation data. But Hamilton said: “There needs to be a better structure to make sure it is fair and even across the board. We have never had that problem in Austin before, and is because we had a sprint race. An easy fix is that we should be able to change the floors.
“The car should not be set from Friday morning, especially at the bumpiest track on the calendar. That is the only reason there were failures. And that reason wasn’t why we were as fast as we were. We hope we have another strong weekend here.”
skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to The Recap
Free weekly newsletter
The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend’s action
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
Hamilton finished only 2.2 seconds behind Verstappen in his most competitive race of the season – one he believed he could have won if Mercedes had not fluffed their strategy lines. “I had just come out the press conference and I was about to get into the ice tub when [Mercedes team principal] Toto [Wolff] came running down and told me,” said Hamilton. “It was devastating because it was such a great day and a great race. I was deflated, but there are lots of positives to take from it.”