Motorsport

EX-FORMULA ONE star Martin Brundle has questioned the FIA after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the US Grand Prix.Hamilton and Leclerc broke their silence on social media with a one-word post following the decision to disqualify them after they were found to have run illegal floors during the race in Austin, Texas.
Lewis Hamilton was disqualified after being found to have run an illegal floor at the US GPCredit: Splash
Martin Brundle questioned why the FIA only checked four cars after half were found to be illegalCredit: Getty
The Mercedes and Ferrari drivers were two of four stars picked for random spot checks after the race.
And they were disqualified due to their cars failing to hit the minimum thickness of the titanium skidblock, or planks, that are legally allowed to run along the centre of the floor on the car.
In theory, it means they were able to run their cars closer to the ground and get better speed in the corners.
However, with half of the selected cars failing to stay legal, it led Sky Sports presenter Brundle to question why the FIA did not then check the remaining 17 cars which finished the race.
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In his post-race column for Sky Sports, he said: “At a bumpy track like Austin, and with only one practice session, setting a ride height for the duration of the event is quite a challenge with regard to performance, and driver and car tolerance, and of course plank-wear legality, especially with a full fuel tank.
“If they simply raised the car to be cautious, they’d lose so much performance they may as well pack up and go home.

“After the race four cars were checked, including [Max] Verstappen’s Red Bull and [Lando] Norris’ McLaren, and both Hamilton’s Mercedes and Leclerc’s Ferrari were found to have too much wear, for which the only remedy is disqualification, however minimal the indiscretion.
“There can be no grey area on this.”
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He continued: “The next big question, however, is that if 50 per cent of the tested cars failed, then shouldn’t all the finishers have been checked? The answer must surely be yes.
“It must be said that the FIA checks pre and post-race are beyond comprehensive.
“The published list includes over 50 separate and detailed checks mostly on all classified finishers, and a few on randomly selected cars.”
Leclerc was also unhappy with the decision, liking a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, which echoed Brundle’s thoughts.
The post from F1 content creator Tom Bellingham said: “The fact only four cars get checked and half of them were illegal makes you wonder if anyone else would have failed this?
“Surely it can’t just be the (bad) luck of the draw of getting checked.”
The 26-year-old, who was celebrating his 100th race in F1 at Ferrari, later unliked the post.
F1 returns next weekend at the Mexican GP.
Hamilton and Charles Leclerc posted a shared Instagram picture togetherCredit: Instagram @lewishamilton
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