Liam Lawson has been disqualified from the results of qualifying for a technical infringement.

The Racing Bulls driver’s car fell foul of the MGU-K rules during the session.

The stewards confirmed the breach occured after Lawson completed his fastest lap in Q2. He broke two rules governing the rate at which the driver’s power demand may reduce (below).

The team and the stewards agreed the breach occured because Lawson did not immediately slow down after completing his lap. Because of the the MGU-K did not reduce its power delivery quickly enough to remain compliant with the rules.

As is standard procedure for a breach of the technical regulations, Lawson is disqualified from the session, notwithstanding the fact the car was not in breach of the rules when he set his qualifying time.

Lawson originally qualified eighth but was due to start ninth as a result of his one-place grid penalty. The stewards have given him permission to start the race from the back of the grid.

Stewards’ explanation for Lawson’s penalty

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.

The regulations Lawson fell foul of

Lawson was found in breach of articles C5.12.6 and C5.12.7 of the technical regulations. These enforce the following restrictions (note the 100kW/s limit applies this weekend as the the FIA does not apply the power limited distance at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez):

C5.12.6 Subject to Article B7.2.1, the driver maximum power demand must not be reduced at any greater than the rates defined below whilst the electrical DC power of the ERS-K is above 100kW:

a. 50kW in any 1s period at competitions where the FIA determines that the power limited distance exceeds 3500m. The vehicle fundamentals used for the calculation of the power limited distance may be found in the document FIA-F1-DOC-034.
b. 100kW in any 1s period at all other competitions.
Furthermore, the total power reduction is limited to a maximum of 700kW.

C5.12.7 The electrical DC power of the ERS‑K may not be reduced at rates greater than those specified in Article C5.12.6, unless:

• the theoretical MGU-K power resulting from reduction at rates equal to those specified in Article C5.12.6 is less than 100kW;
• the ICE power is negative and the ERS-K power needs to be reduced further to achieve the driver demand;
• the ERS-K power needs to be reduced further to achieve the maximum power permitted by Article C5. 2.8;
• the driver power demand is negative;
• a gearshift is in progress;
• car speed is below 210kph, except on specified circuit sectors where a higher speed threshold is defined.

[FIA] A higher car speed threshold will be defined for sectors where the car speed may fluctuate around 210kph, potentially causing inconsistent electrical energy deployment

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