Why were Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc disqualified from the 2023 F1 US Grand Prix?

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the 2023 US Grand Prix after post-race checks found the plank underneath their cars had worn too thin.

The Mercedes driver finished the race in P2 behind the eventual race winner Max Verstappen and put a huge dent in Sergio Perez's lead in the second position after scoring 18 points. Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, had a miserable US GP as his pole position start went down the drain, finishing P6 owing to a one-stop strategy.

Following the race, the FIA randomly selected four out of 17 finished cars for post-race checks. Hamilton and Leclerc's cars were found to not have the minimum 9mm thickness towards the rear of the planks as mandated by FIA. The Delegate’s Report stated (h/t Formula1.com):

"The skids located in the area -825 ≥ XR ≥ - 1025 are found to be not in compliance with Article 3.5.9 e) of the 2023 Formula One Technical Regulations."

Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were summoned to the stewards along with their team representatives. A statement released by the stewards post-race read:

"The onus is on the competitor to ensure that the car is in compliance with the regulations at all times during an event. In this particular case, the rear skid in the area defined in the Technical Delegate’s report was outside of the thresholds outlined in Article 3.5.9 e) of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations, which includes a tolerance for wear."

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Mercedes team boss gives his take on Lewis Hamilton's disqualification from the US GP

Mercedes F1 Team Principal Toto Wolff stated that the team got it wrong with the setup of the car and pointed out that the regulations did not allow for any wiggle room.

Addressing Lewis Hamilton's disqualification, Wolff said, as per F1.com:

"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 will be fascinating to see if Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc give any statements regarding their disqualification from the race in the coming days. The former is still third in the standings with 201 points while Leclerc is eight points below Lando Norris in seventh. The McLaren-Mercedes driver was bumped up to P2 after Hamilton's disqualification in Austin.