Yahoo Autos Lewis Hamilton Disqualified from Brazilian GP Qualifying
Formula 1 officials have disqualified Lewis Hamilton from yesterday's qualifying session, erasing his fastest time and taking him from pole for today's sprint race to last on the grid. The infraction is the direct result of a rear wing issue reported last night and investigated today.
The offending part was a portion of the car's DRS assembly, the piece that is legally allowed to move during overtaking maneuvers if the trailing car is within a second of the car it is attempting to pass. The infraction was discovered during post-qualifying inspection, leading to an overnight investigation and today's decision. Hamilton was allowed to replace his rear wing with an identical piece before today's practice sessions and could race with that assembly in this afternoon's sprint event.
As this was a qualifying session before a sprint race, Hamilton did not have an official pole to lose. This was a disqualification from that session rather than a grid penalty, too. That means, if he somehow wins today's sprint race from last on the grid and his wing assembly is deemed legal, he would still start first and would still be credited with pole for tomorrow's race.
In a separate case also involving Hamilton's rear wing, Max Verstappen has been fined 50,000 euros for touching the assembly after yesterday's qualifying session. Stewards noted that he did not move the thing significantly, so it was only a minor violation of parc ferme rules.
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