Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has been stripped of his P1 for the F1 Sprint after a technical infringement was found on his Mercedes W12 - meaning Max Verstappen will head the field for Saturday's 100km dash event in Brazil.
"Hamilton took P1 for the Sprint by more than four-tenths over Red Bull rival Vertappen, with Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas lining up third, but now Hamilton has been disqualified from Friday's qualifying session due to an infringement found on the rear wing of his car in a major blow to his championship hopes," stated an official F1 statement.
Meanwhile, rival Verstappen was handed a 50,000 euros fine for touching and examining Hamilton's rear wing in Parc Ferme on Friday with the stewards giving a lengthy reasoning for the fine. However, they said in that statement issued after FP2 on Saturday: "no direct harm was caused in this case."
Ahead of the Sprint event the stewards explained why they had handed the penalty to Hamilton: "In lay terms, there is a gap between the upper and lower parts of the rear wing. When the DRS is not activated this gap must be between 10mm and 15mm. The car passed this part of the test.
"When DRS is activated, which raises the upper element of the wing to a flatter position, the gap must be between 10mm and 85mm. The maximum gap is measured, in accordance with TD/011-19, by pushing an 85mm gauge against the gap with a maximum load of 10N (ten newtons.) If the gauge goes through then the car has failed the test. In this case, the gauge would not pass through at the inner section of the wing, but did at the outer section of the wing. This test was repeated four times with two different gauges, once being done in the presence of the Stewards and representatives of the Competitor," explained the stewards.
Furthermore, Hamilton has a five-place grid penalty, for taking a new Mercedes engine, which will apply in Sunday's Grand Prix.
Verstappen therefore has a prime chance of adding up to three points to his 19-point lead over Hamilton while, if both Red Bulls take top three finishes in the Sprint, Red Bull could pass Mercedes in the constructors' standings on Saturday.
( With inputs from ANI )
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