FIA announce F1 star DISQUALIFIED at Mexican Grand Prix after late drama

The FIA have announced that Liam Lawson has been thrown out of qualifying at the Mexican Grand Prix following a disqualification for the Racing Bulls star.

Lawson had qualified eighth in front of his team-mate Arvid Lindblad, proving himself as once again best of the rest outside of Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren.

There was already a tinge of regret for Lawson as he was due to start ninth anyway after being hit with a one-place grid penalty following an incident with Max Verstappen during Friday practice at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit.

But the 24-year-old got into even deeper trouble following Saturday's qualifying session.

His Racing Bulls car was found not to be in compliance with rules regarding the use of the MGUK, resulting in disqualification from qualifying.

FIA stewards take action on Lawson

Essentially, Lawson was disqualified because his car's electrical power reduced too quickly just after he crossed the finish line during qualifying, as a result of him not lifting off the power.

F1 regulations state that the electric power from the battery must decrease gradually at a specific rate, but Lawson's car didn't follow this requirement

What should have happened was for the electrical power to decrease gradually, in line with F1's rules. Even though Lawson didn't gain any advantage from what happened, breaking the technical regulations was enough to result in disqualification, despite Racing Bulls self reporting themselves to the FIA stewards.

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Stewards explain Lawson infringement

An FIA statement from the stewards read: "The Stewards heard from the team representatives of Car 30 (Liam Lawson), the driver, the Single Seater Sporting Director and members of the FIA Technical team including the FIA Technical Delegate.

"Evidence submitted, which was accepted by all parties present, showed that after the control line at the end of his fastest lap in Q2, the driver did not lift off the power immediately.

"This resulted in the rate of reduction of MGUK deployment required to achieve the regulated “step down”, not being achieved.

"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 gained.

"Further, these regulations require that a car must comply with them at all times during an event.

"The Stewards note in particular that the team self-disclosed the breach however there are a multitude of precedents that require us, despite all mitigating circumstances, to impose a penalty of disqualification where a car does not comply with the Technical Regulations."

Despite his disqualification, Lawson will still race in Sunday's grand prix, starting from the back of the grid in 22nd place.

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