Esteban Ocon has been disqualified from the United States Grand Prix after his Racing Point Force India F1 Team VJM11 was found to have broken the maximum fuel flow limits within the Formula 1 technical regulations.
The Frenchman’s car was deemed to have exceeded the maximum one hundred kilograms per hour limit on the opening lap at the Circuit of the Americas and as a result has seen his eighth-place finish removed from the record books.
The team were summoned by the stewards after the race and a decision made not long after to disqualify Ocon from the race, with team principal Otmar Szafnauer admitting that the offence did take place, although he does not think that any advantage was gained in the incident.
“What happened was that there was a spike of flow and then a trough – so if you look at it over a lap it was neutral,” Szafnauer is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com ahead of the disqualification decision.
“If you look at it over the lap there is no infringement, but it depends how you chop up the lap. This is the first time it has happened.
“We didn’t get an advantage,” he added. “There are track limits but if you go outside track limits, which you shouldn’t do, then if you haven’t gained an advantage they don’t do anything. If you have gained an advantage then they do something.
“This is another limit where we haven’t gained an advantage. I think it is unprecedented.”
