F1 News: Austin GP Disqualifications Raises Questions For FIA To Make Changes

That could've led to more disqualifications.

Lewis Hamilton, who was second to cross the finish line in Austin, and Charles Leclerc, who finished P6, were both disqualified due to excessive plank wear that was found in the FIA's random checks of 4 cars. But with a 50% failure rate, should the governing body have extended their checks on other cars as well?

Despite Max Verstappen's victory at the United States Grand Prix, the talk of the town has been Hamilton and Leclerc's disqualification. One of the reasons is that the former secured the second position after a long wait but then lost it soon after. 

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It is a normal process that the FIA carries out to randomly select cars to scrutinize certain areas. Hamilton, Verstappen, Leclerc, and Lando Norris' cars were checked for skid block wear which denoted a 50% pass and 50% fail equation. The result clearly indicates that there could be several other cars on the grid that failed to meet the minimum plank wear requirements laid out by the governing body.

That is especially possible when you look into the reasons Mercedes provided for the excessive wear of the skid block on Hamilton's W14. The teams only had one practice session because of the Sprint race. In addition, the Circuit Of The Americas (COTA) is very bumpy to drive on, especially at high speeds when the downforce is high. 

With teams focussing on ride height in the current generation of cars, it is obvious that they would opt to go as low as possible. It could be a case that with the current challenges ahead of them during a Sprint weekend, teams like Mercedes and Ferrari just didn't have the time in hand to make the right call in advance. 

While by no means could that be used as an excuse to let them go scot-free, the question that comes up is whether the FIA should've looked at other cars for similar violations. 

Shouldn't the next logical step of the governing body be to check the other cars, at least by considering the 50% failure rate? Would it be fair enough to just target the two drivers when there are significant chances of the other teams violating the same rule?

In the past, drivers have had to start the race from the pitlane because the error was spotted before and the team raised that car's height during Parc Fermé conditions. But with the scenario in Austin, the Mercedes and Ferrari cars were caught out after the race.

These are the kinds of questions being raised. Were the other teams also checked for plank wear, considering the high possibility of more cars violating the same rule? Or did they get away through sheer luck? 

Maybe, this might have also helped the FIA to conclude whether the problem emanated from the teams or, was the bumpy track too harsh for the majority of the cars. Because if you look at the shattered floor of Fernando Alonso's AMR23, it does throw light on the angle that COTA was the main culprit. But now that is a matter of the past, we'll never know for sure.