F1 News
Verstappen feels FIA could have done more after disqualifying Hamilton
Max Verstappen believes the FIA should also have tested the cars of Carlos Sainz and George Russell after the disqualifications of their teammates. However, the Dutchman understands the FIA cannot check all the cars.
After the US Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified because the plank under the floor had too much wear. Besides Hamilton and Leclerc's cars, only Lando Norris and Max Verstappen's cars were tested. Verstappen, like Norris, believes the teammates of the disqualified drivers should also have been checked.
Verstappen had expected more disqualifications
Verstappen reveals to De Telegraaf that he does not think Mercedes and McLaren did this on purpose. "During a normal race weekend, this would not have happened to the other teams. Nobody wants to be illegal," Verstappen points mainly to the sprint format as the cause. With the sprint weekend, teams have only one practice session to test everything, and a wrong setup cannot be reversed.
"It is not possible for the FIA to check all cars for every part after the race. I just think that if one car is found to be illegal, you should check the other car of that team as well. Because normally with the other car, they choose about the same ride height."
Carlos Sainz and George Russell were now spared that fate. Sainz even kept a podium, Russell climbed to fifth place due to the two disqualifications ahead of him. Sticking to their own rules, the FIA stated that they are unable to check all cars after the race. As Verstappen said: "Then we would not have the final results until Tuesday."