Liam Lawson has lost his ninth starting position for the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix. Racing Bulls impressed at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on Saturday and managed to get both cars into Q3. The team subsequently emerged as the “best of the rest” in eighth and ninth place, but Lawson now faces a bounce-back campaign on Sunday. The New Zealander has been disqualified by the FIA for a technical infringement. The citation document already stated that “Lawson breached the MGU-K’s minimum power requirement just after crossing the finish line on his fastest lap in Q2 at 15:47:36.” After a visit to the stewards, the result was the same as for almost all technical infractions: disqualification. In practice, Lawson did not follow the prescribed procedures immediately after completing his fastest lap in Q2, meaning he did not meet the MGU-K’s mandatory deceleration pace. The FIA clarified that Lawson ran out of battery at the end of his flight lap, causing his MGU-K’s deployment to completely slow down and the MGU-K’s power output to drop from 350 kW to zero instantly. This violates technical regulations. Instead, that electrical power must be gradually reduced in accordance with article C5.12.6 of the technical regulation. It stipulates maximum reductions of 50 or 100 kW per second: “The driver’s maximum power demand must not be reduced by more than the rates defined below while the DC electrical power of the ERS-K is greater than 100 kW: document FIA-F1-DOC-034.b 100 kW in any period of 1 s in all other competitions.” In Lawson’s case, the reduction in electrical power was much more pronounced after crossing the line without immediately releasing the accelerator, as also described in the stewards’ report: “The evidence presented, which was accepted by all parties present, showed that following the control line at the end of his fastest lap in Q2, the driver did not immediately remove power. This resulted in the rate of reduction of MGU-K deployment required to achieve the regulated ‘reduction’ not being achieved.” The citation document further clarified this violation as follows: “The driver’s maximum power demand and DC electrical power of the ERS-K were reduced at rates greater than those permitted by the Regulation.” Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images During the hearing, all parties concluded that Racing Bulls had not gained any sporting advantage from the infringement, although that conclusion was not sufficient to avoid disqualification. After all, technical violations are always black and white. “The team argued that this did not provide any performance advantage, however, it is clear that non-compliance with the Technical Regulations is not excused if no performance advantage is obtained. Furthermore, these regulations require that a car must comply with them at all times during an event. The stewards point out in particular that the team itself revealed the infringement, however, there are a multitude of precedents which require us, despite all extenuating circumstances, to impose a disqualification penalty when a car does not comply with the Regulations “Technical”. The reduction rate is a particularly sensitive issue, with the FIA intervening earlier this year to clamp down on alleged qualifying tricks employed by Mercedes and, to a lesser extent, Red Bull. Those teams had also found ways to circumvent the maximum drawdown rate, although in their cases it was deliberate. As the teams had been warned several times, the FIA said it had no choice. It means Lawson will have to start from the back of the grid on Sunday and faces a fight across the field. The disqualification is good news for Alpine, as one of its rivals for fifth place in the constructors’ championship is forced to start from behind. In the standings, however, Racing Bulls still maintain a comfortable lead of 33 points. Read also: We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Motorsport.com? Take our 5-minute survey. – The Motorsport.com team
