That’s it for today!
So we say goodbye at this point for today – unfortunately without a decision. It won’t be available until Saturday morning at the earliest. As a reminder: Brazil is four hours behind us. We can expect a decision around noon. Of course, they are available here on our portal. Have a nice evening and see you tomorrow!
No more decision today
The FIA has just announced. The rear wing on the Mercedes is now being removed for further checks under the supervision of Jo Bauer. Meanwhile, the car is going back to Mercedes to be ready for the night in the garage. Here is the statement by the stewards in full:
“The Stewards hereby order the Technical Delegate to supervise the removal of the rear wing assembly of Car 44, and to impound this part under seal. Further, the Technical Delegate is to supervise the transition of Car 44 into overnight conditions, permitting only those actions needed to store the car. “
All other cars legal
The FIA has since revealed that the DRS was checked on a total of 14 cars today. These are the cars with the numbers 44, 77, 33, 11, 03, 04, 05, 14, 16, 55, 22, 10, 47 and 63. All cars – except the one from Hamilton – have the Passed the test. Apart from that, no violations of the technical regulations were found today in various other inspections.
So we’re just waiting for a decision on the Hamilton case.
The greatest chases in F1 history
Somehow it fits the topic very well. Perhaps as a role model for Hamilton if he should really be disqualified …
Rear wing examination not a coincidence?
According to the Colleagues from ‘auto motor und sport’ Incidentally, it was no coincidence that the FIA examined the rear wings of all teams today, of all days. Because the Mercedes wing is currently under special observation by Red Bull. There is even a video circulating on the Internet that shows how Verstappen inspects the rear wing of the W12 in the Parc Ferme.
Background: Red Bull is looking for the reason that Mercedes has been so fast on the straights for some time. “In principle, they are doing the same thing that we were accused of before the race in Baku,” Christian Horner is quoted as saying. Means: According to Red Bull allegations, Mercedes has a partially flexible rear wing. But how does that fit together with the DRS?
Apparently it is more of a “chance find” by the FIA when checking the wings. Because actually Red Bull suspected a completely different trick. From the point of view of the cops, of course, a stroke of luck …
Schedule on Saturday
We use the waiting time to look ahead to tomorrow, Saturday. There it starts for us at 4 p.m. with FT2, the sprint is then at prime time from 8:30 p.m. Here in the ticker we will of course get back to you in good time before FT2. And don’t worry: Today we won’t finish work until we have a decision!
When will the verdict come?
Unfortunately we cannot say that. We asked the FIA, of course, but they cannot (or do not want to) make a clear statement. As a reminder: In Sao Paulo it is now “only” 8:45 pm. So the stewards still have some time to make their decision before everyone wants to go to bed …
Fresh pictures
While we are waiting for the verdict, there is a reference to our photo gallery with the best snapshots of the day. We have also replenished our technology photo series with new pictures!
What punishment is there when?
Of course, we are anticipating a little, because officially there is no official penalty at all. But in the event of a disqualification, Hamilton would have to start from the very back in the sprint tomorrow. That would have no effect on his engine penalty, because one way or another it won’t take effect until Sunday. That means: Even if he were to go up to P10 in the sprint, for example, he would have to start from P15 on Sunday.
But again: this is currently only theory.
Hamilton came from behind once before
In 2017, Hamilton started from the very back in Brazil. At that time, after a crash in qualifying, he only came out of the pit lane – and still finished fourth. Back then, too, he had a fresh engine in the car. This shows that he could still move forward on Sunday. And before that, he could make up a few positions in the sprint.
But let’s wait and see. There is still no judgment.
Emotional masepin
We already talked about the subject earlier. But since pictures say more than words, there is the mentioned interview with the Russian again in the video:
Ferrari: “Important” result for the World Cup
Points have not yet been awarded today, but Laurent Mekies explains: “Today it was important that we finished in the championship with both cars ahead of our closest rival. It would have been nice to have been in the AlphaTauri before Gasly. But we knew, that they would be very competitive on this route – as they were in Mexico. “
However, the main goal for tomorrow and especially Sunday is clear: Ferrari wants to beat McLaren and further extend its lead in the battle for 3rd place in the World Cup. Sainz knows: “A clean race tomorrow is the key to have good chances on Sunday.” Of course he means sprint and not race 😉
How DRS is checked
Nothing is left to chance in Formula 1. It is therefore strange that Mercedes should simply “slip through”, that the DRS at Hamilton can be opened too far. In this video Aston Martin shows us from minute 6:35 how the teams test whether the wing cannot be opened beyond the permitted range. Such tests should of course also be carried out at Mercedes.
Is it possible that something went wrong? In any case, we are looking forward to the explanation later – regardless of the outcome of the investigation!
Race winner at the green table
Speaking of the green table: In this photo series we look back into history and look at races that were not decided on the racetrack. In the case of Hamilton, it’s not about a race win – but it may be about the World Cup. That was also the case in 1989 or 1999, for example …
Preliminary decision in the World Cup?
Let’s assume the worst-case scenario from a Mercedes point of view: If Hamilton is actually disqualified, 99 percent of the time he will not take any points in the sprint tomorrow. Because there are counters only for the top 3. So Verstappen could expand his lead in the World Cup to 22 points with a win.
If the Dutchman wins on Sunday, he could even pull away by a maximum of 48 points. That equates to almost two race wins – with only three Grands Prix left. And even if Hamilton made it into the points, he would definitely travel to Qatar more than 25 points behind.
So Verstappen would have at least one complete race as a “buffer” between himself and Hamilton. Everything is still very theoretical. But it is not ruled out that there will be a preliminary decision in the World Cup at the green table in the coming hours!