Picture Credit: Twitter
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the qualifying session at the Brazilian Grand Prix due to a technical failure in his Mercedes car. This was the latest blow to the Briton's Formula 1 title defense. The decision now implies that Hamilton will be starting the sprint at Interlagos in the last position. Although Hamilton and Mercedes can appeal the decision, it seems unlikely that it will happen.
However leaving aside all the disappointments, Hamilton has chosen to look at the positives as he responded with a message on social media. Remaining hopeful of a strong performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix despite getting disqualified from the qualifying round, he wrote with the caption, "STILL. WE. RISE."
Check out his post here:
In what could be touted as a dramatic pre-race day, Hamilton's rival, Max Verstappen of Red Bull was also penalised. The Dutch driver was fined 50,000 euros ($57,200) after he was seen touching the rear wing of the Mercedes car. Due to a separate five-place penalty, Hamilton will be at best able to start at sixth place. The five-place penalty was imposed for Mercedes changing the car's engine in Sao Paulo.
As things stand currently, Verstappen leads Hamilton by 19 points in the Championship race with four races to go in the ongoing season. Hamilton had handed a defeat to the Dutchman by more than 0.4 seconds in the qualifying for the sprint but it was then that Mercedes under investigation for DRS exceeded the maximum distance when opened.
"It was clear to the stewards that the additional deflection was due to additional play either in the DRS actuator or the pivots at the end, or some combination or other fault with the mechanism, or incorrect assembly of the parts," the decision said as quoted in an Associated Press Report.
"There is therefore no question in the minds of the stewards that the test failure indicates any intent to exceed the maximum dimension either by action or design," the decision added.