Why the wood used in F1 cars was so important to disqualify Hamilton and Leclerc

Some of the most amazing pictures that Formula 1 These are the ones that happen on circuits at night, when cars touch the ground at full speed and sparks fly. And certainly that is something closely related to the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from Sunday’s race of the F1 United States GP. Lewis finished 2nd in Austin and when his result was overturned, he gave up second place to Lando Norris and the third to Carlos Sainzthe third Spanish podium in 2023. All this, due to a technical violation of Mercedes of English and Ferrari from Monegasque (he finished 6th), which has a lot to do with the sparks being so popular.

When they jump, many fans may think that this is a problem with the car, something dangerous, but it is quite the opposite. This is an effect intended to give more epicness to battles. How do you get it? Here’s the surprise: with a wooden plate located under the car, called ‘skate’, ‘ski’ or, more correctly, ‘plank’.

The titanium slide blocks that sit on that mandatory board generate incredible sparks and that’s why they were chosen. But to this aesthetic function of the wooden plaque, other more practical ones are added: The FIA ​​places these plates under the cars to limit the aerodynamic work that teams can develop on that partand above all, to ensure that all vehicles maintain a minimum distance from the ground. And surely, that is why Hamilton and Leclerc were left behind.

To ensure that the cars do not touch the ground, the FIA, through clear regulations, sets a minimum thickness of the wooden plate. It should be 10 millimeters at the start of the race. And because they know that this element can rub the asphalt or the pianos at some point, they allow a maximum damage of 1 millimeter to occur in that wood. If ever one man succeeded in that erosion, it was him disqualified. And that’s what happened to Hamilton and Leclerc.

Why did they ‘catch’ Leclerc and Hamilton and no one else?

The FIA ​​conducts many tests after the races, but it is impossible for it to look at all the parameters of all the cars. Like a random ‘anti-doping’ control in other sports, where not all players or participants are tested. In fact, the wood of the floor is not seen in all Grand Prix. And in Austin, which is a major aspect, it did. In this case, after the US GP, They only measured the floor of the first 3 and one other car: Leclerc’s. The Monegasque and the English were not so lucky.

Headache for everyone in Austin, a big challenge

Teams seek to ride as close to the ground as possible because this way they achieve more downforce and higher cornering speeds. However, at a circuit like Austin, What happened to Hamilton and Leclerc is something that could happen and could scare the teams ahead of this GP.

On a circuit with so many potholes, everyone tried to stick to the ground, but at the same time, looking for the perfect compromise by raising the height of your car to avoid bouncing on potholes and escape disqualification due to excessive friction on the asphalt or curbs.

Unlike other weekends, As a GP with a sprint format, there is only one hour of free practice for the engineers to find the perfect height and car settings to tackle qualifying and the race.

That little time to carry out tests and calculations led two of the best teams in the championship to make mistakes for which they paid dearly.. And the height of a car also varies depending on the fuel it uses: it decreases the more loaded it is, as well as whether DRS is used or not. And certainly, in FP1 no one can test the car loaded for a long time to simulate race conditions.

There are a lot of variables to evaluate, and at one time, all that work is very complicated. In F1, any millimeter is key and here it is clear again, like the thousands of aspects that teams must control and that can completely change what happens in a weekend.

The doubts

The question remains what would have happened if the FIA ​​had checked all the cars on the grid and not just 4 to perform this test. The only thing that is clear is that the floors of the cars of Verstappen (winner) and Lando Norris, who was initially third, were also checked and passed that measure in compliance with the regulations.

Red Bull and McLaren didn’t make a mistake. They performed perfectly within the rules. Perfection is key, another example than the fact that McLaren made the fastest pit stop in history at the previous Qatar GP, or that Red Bull rarely failed at anything this year. It is no coincidence that they were not wrong in this matter either. The more performance your car has, the more room for maneuver to make fewer mistakes. Mercedes overtook McLaren this weekend, but perhaps Hamilton needs to take more risks with the height of his car.

There is also the question of knowing if everything is the fault of the height chosen for the cars of Leclerc and Hamilton, if their teammates used the same initial height, or if, on the other hand, the driving of Lewis or Charles , more aggressive. , there is one thing to see is the final disqualification.