MAY 25, 2024

Haas cars disqualified with rear wing breach

Haas F1 Team's drivers, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, were disqualified from the Monaco Grand Prix qualifying due to a breach in rear wing regulations. FIA's scrutineering team found that the DRS clearance on both Haas cars exceeded the maximum allowed opening of 85mm, leading to the decision.

The issue arose when Haas introduced a new rear wing design to meet Monaco's high downforce demands. However, an error occurred in setting up this new wing, resulting in non-compliance. The team admitted the mistake, explaining that their mechanics were trained for the old design, which had different setup requirements.

"The team explained that this was the consequence of an inadvertent error on their part in setting the wing flap gap," the stewards reported. "The old design was compliant with the regulations with the largest gap measured from the center of the wing. Under the new design, the largest gap was at the extremities, and the team had not trained its mechanics accordingly."

Despite Haas's assertion that the non-compliance did not provide any performance advantage, Article 1.3.3 of the International Sporting Code deems performance gain irrelevant.

This incident echoes a similar situation in the 2021 Brazilian Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from sprint qualifying for a DRS infringement, resulting in his demotion to the last place on the grid.

In the Monaco session, Magnussen qualified 15th, although his final flying lap was aborted. Hulkenberg, who qualified 12th, was also summoned to the stewards for impeding Esteban Ocon. He explained a radio communication failure left him unaware of Ocon's approach. Due to widespread radio issues reported by several teams and Ocon's statement that he was not significantly impeded, no further action was taken.