Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has admitted ‘we got it wrong’ after Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the US Grand Prix for failing a post-race inspection by driving a car with excessive wear.
The British F1 star was initially handed second place at the championship in Austin, Texas but just hours later was disqualified when his car failed the check for prostitute excessive base wear.
Hamilton had already seemed wary of the state of his tyres during one of his pit stops, admitting when asked if he could complete another five laps on his current set of wheels: ‘I am not sure, man. It is pretty tough.’
Audio footage now shows the seven-time champion yelling at his team, just hours before he blamed Mercedes’ pit stop strategy for costing his first victory in almost two years.
In a statement, Wolff said: ‘Turning to the race result and the disqualification, set-up choices on a sprint weekend are always a challenge with just one hour of free practice – and even more so at a bumpy circuit like COTA and running a new package. In the end, all of that doesn’t matter; others got it right where we got it wrong and there’s no wiggle room in the rules. We need to take it on the chin, do the learning, and come back stronger next weekend.
It comes after as a star-studded crowd watched the race, including Prince Harry, recently single Joe Jonas, Greys Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey and Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.
Lewis Hamilton has been disqualified from the US Grand Prix after his car failed a post-race inspection, stripping the seven-time world champion of his second place finish
Hamilton’s disqualification meant that McLaren’s Lando Norris was promoted to second while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took third place
Amongst those watching in the stunned crowd was Prince Harry, pictured with Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner
Lewis Hamilton (pictured celebrating his second place) has been disqualified from the US Grand Prix after his car failed a post-race inspection, stripping the seven-time world champion of his second place finish
The driver was already wary of the state of his tyres during on of his pit stops. Asked if he could complete another lap on the set of wheels, he said: ‘I am not sure, man. It is pretty tough.’
Despite his reservation, he set off with the same tyres but when his brakes lcoked up, his race engineer was back on the intercom letting Hamilton know Verstappen had lapped three seconds faster than him.
The update was met with an irritated reply from the British driver who yelled: ‘No s*** man. I am struggling out here.’