Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes react to shock disqualification from United States GP

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Lewis Hamilton expressed his "sense of letdown" after the unexpected disqualification from the United States Grand Prix, while Mercedes chief Toto Wolff acknowledged that "we made an error."

Hamilton came in second place during the race, with Max Verstappen taking the top spot. However, both Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from Ferrari were disqualified afterward for breaking the regulations regarding their car floors.

After examining the wear on planks, workers from Mercedes and Ferrari were asked to attend a meeting with officials. The disqualification of both teams was eventually announced at 7pm in Austin, which was over three hours after the race was over.

As a result, Hamilton's score is reduced by 18 points due to his second-place finish, and Leclerc's score is decreased by eight points since he came in sixth.

Wolff, in a statement released by Mercedes, explained why the team violated the rules. He emphasized the difficulty of making setup decisions during a sprint weekend with limited practice time, especially at a circuit with rough terrain like COTA while also testing a new package. As a result, the disqualification and the race outcome occurred.

Ultimately, these details are inconsequential; some individuals were successful where we fell short and the regulations leave no room for excuses.

We have to accept the situation and use what we learned to improve ourselves, then come back with more strength for the following weekend.

Lewis Hamilton felt let down after being disqualified from the US Grand Prix.

According to the FIA note, Verstappen's and Lando Norris's vehicles were also examined, but they successfully passed the inspections. Furthermore, Norris ended up advancing to the second position from the third in the ultimate ranking.

Hamilton expressed his disappointment on being disqualified after the race but highlighted that the advancements achieved during the weekend shouldn't be ignored.

Logan Sargeant received his initial point in F1 because of the alteration in race categorization, making him the first American to attain a point in three decades.

On Sunday's race, Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had been excluded for disqualification.

The director of trackside engineering for Mercedes, Andrew Shovlin, confessed that the team must "depart and acquire knowledge from this occurrence."

He expressed his disappointment in losing the opportunity to be on the podium.

Regrettably, it is one of the drawbacks of the sprint style of racing where we only have one hour of driving before the parc fermé.

During the first practice session (FP1), the drivers did not use a large amount of fuel, and due to the bumpy nature of the track and the specific parts of the course where they need to navigate during the actual race, the wear and tear on the cars was more pronounced than anticipated.

"We will depart and gather insights from this, but also extract the advantages from our overall encounter."

The F1 race is headed to Mexico this weekend for its second event out of three in a row. Next up will be the final sprint weekend in Brazil.