The Mercedes rims declared compliant by the FIA
A controversy had emerged before the race in Austin regarding the compliance of the Mercedes single-seaters' rims. However, the Mexican Grand Prix stewards have just clarified that these are legal and in full compliance with the FIA's technical regulations.
For a few races now, the Mercedes team has introduced a modification to its rims, which has been much talked about by its competitors. In fact, this development involves the presence of a spacer on the rear wheels to help reduce the heat flow between the axle and the wheel.
Fearing a breach of regulations after alerts raised by its adversaries to the FIA, Mercedes had decided not to use this upgrade during the United States Grand Prix, even though the stewards had not detected any issues regarding the compliance of the two W09s of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
Once again subject to inspection this Thursday as part of the Mexican Grand Prix, the stewards declared that both Mercedes cars did not violate Article 3.8 of the Technical Regulations regarding the aerodynamic performance of the car.
The FIA does not rule out conducting further checks during the weekend in Mexico, and the decision made yesterday remains subject to a possible appeal by other teams.
Some observers found it strange how Lewis Hamilton’s performance suddenly dropped in Austin. The non-use of these new rims could have been one of the reasons, but Mercedes quickly clarified, through Lewis Hamilton, that the explanation lay elsewhere: « They disassembled the car in the morning, and when they put it back together, the car was unbalanced. I had a huge ballast issue. It was something like 50 kg, which was enormous. As a result, the front right and rear left were taking all the weight, and the car wouldn’t turn into left-hand corners. »
Lewis Hamilton concludes: « I think that if we hadn’t had this problem, it would have been a very different race. »
