The FIA solely measured the planks of 4 automobiles after the race, and located that these of Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had been unlawful, leading to the disqualifications of the two drivers.
The automobiles of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris had been deemed authorized, however regardless of the 50% failure fee on the bumpy COTA monitor, the FIA stuck with its usual protocols and opted to not pattern another automobiles additional down the order.
Talking for the primary time for the reason that disqualification, Hamilton made clear how pissed off he was to lose his second place.
“I simply got here out of the press convention, received again, and I used to be about to get within the ice tub,” he mentioned. “After which Toto [Wolff] got here operating down and advised me. Clearly [I was] devastated [as] it had been such an awesome day and nice race.
“However yeah, after which I did not discover out totally till I used to be again house. Yeah, only a bit deflated after the day, however there have been a number of positives to take from it.”
Picture by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG, 2nd place, on the rostrum along with his trophy
Requested what he considered solely 4 automobiles being examined, Hamilton made his emotions clear.
“Firstly I’ve heard from a number of totally different sources that there have been loads of different automobiles that had been additionally unlawful,” he mentioned.
“However they weren’t examined, in order that they received away with it. I have been racing right here 16 years, there’s been instances the place there’s been many different eventualities like this the place some individuals received away with sure issues, and a few individuals have simply been unfortunate they received examined.
“So I feel in the end there in all probability must be some form of higher construction when it comes to ensuring it is truthful and even throughout the board.”
Hamilton identified that the dash weekend format, with automobile specs fastened after FP1, makes such issues extra prone to occur.
“We have by no means had that drawback in Austin earlier than,” he mentioned. “It was simply because we had the dash race as nicely, so a simple resolution, a simple repair for that one, for instance, is that we’re in a position to change the flooring after the… Properly, simply strategy the weekend in a different way, the place the automobile is just not set already from Friday morning.
“Particularly on the bumpiest monitor that we have been on, as a result of that is actually the one cause that there are failures, it is simply because it is so bumpy, and a few automobiles have higher journey high quality than others. Have a look at the Ferrari, take a look at Charles’ head and my head.
“We’ve fairly dangerous journey, and our heads are bumping round quite a bit as a result of the automobile is hitting the deck. It isn’t as a result of we typically are simply pushing the automobile too low.”
Hamilton denied that the staff had been stretching the bounds with a low journey top in seek for efficiency, and that maybe defined why the W14 was so aggressive at COTA.
“No, I feel firstly we have to simply deal with the purpose that final yr, our automobile was finest when it was low, tremendous low,” he mentioned.
“So we had been low and stiff. Our automobile works higher at excessive journey heights now. So it is not that we’re simply pushing the automobile too low.
“It was simply an unlucky state of affairs. 0.05 [mm] failure on the rear skid, it is not going to make the distinction between profitable and dropping. In order that error wasn’t the rationale that we had been as quick as had been.
“In order that’s why it is simply been painful for us. As a result of, you understand, if we had modified our rear springs, for instance, maybe we’d have had higher journey.
“However anyhow, we’re hopeful that the efficiency will proceed this weekend. And yeah, simply ensuring that guys do not overreact. I feel we’ll be high-quality.”