Liam Lawson Disqualified From Mexico City GP Qualifying Over MGU-K Infringement

Liam Lawson has officially lost his ninth-place starting position for the Mexico City GP owing to a technical infringement on his part. The disqualification has to do with the ramp-down rate of the MGU-K after the New Zealander had completed his fastest lap in Q2.

Both the Racing Bulls cars were in fine form during the qualifying session, and appeared to be the ‘best of the rest’ on Saturday. However, the summons document has undone the team’s outing, as it states that “Lawson was in breach of the minimum MGU-K power requirement just after crossing the line on his fastest lap in Q2 at 15:47:36.”

Following a visit to the stewards, the Racing Bulls driver was disqualified from Saturday’s proceedings and will therefore be starting the Mexican GP from the back of the grid. The FIA subsequently clarified that Lawson had run out of battery power at the end of his flying lap, which caused his MGU-K deployment to drop off.

As such, the power output went from 350kW to zero in an instant, which is a breach of the technical regulations under the current guidelines. Per the rulebook, the electrical power must be reduced gradually, with maximum reductions capped at either 50 or 100kW.

A Deeper Study of the Liam Lawson Disqualification

In Lawson‘s case, the reduction in power was far higher as he crossed the finish line, even without lifting off the throttle. This was also mentioned in the stewards’ report and acted as further evidence against Lawson not achieving the required step-down as per the regulations.

Further along in the summons document, race control mentions that “the driver maximum power demand and the electrical DC power of the ERS-K were reduced at greater rates than what is permitted.”

During the hearing, Racing Bulls argued that their driver gained no sporting advantage from the infringement. The stewards also agreed with the stance, but technical infringements are always black and white and consistently result in penalties being applied.

Ultimately, it means that Lawson will go to the back of the grid for Sunday’s race, undoing all his hard work from Saturday. Having originally finished qualifying in P8 just ahead of teammate Arvid Lindblad, Lawson was prepared for a one-place grid drop after the events of free practice. But things have since taken a very different turn for the No. 30 driver.

Liam Lawson Clears the Air Over Max Verstappen Incident

Having made contact with Max Verstappen during FP2 in Mexico City, Lawson was at the receiving end of stern backlash from the four-time world champion, who was subsequently also handed a one-place grid penalty.

With the Dutch driver being at his vocal best yet again, Lawson sat down with him ahead of the qualifying session to clear the air. The 24-year-old revealed that he had gone to see Verstappen and apologize to him, as it was never his intention to make contact with his sister team’s driver.

Referring to the strong words of the Dutchman, Lawson stated that all of that had been cleared up as well between both drivers. While the Racing Bulls driver did not interact with the media after the incident, he felt that Verstappen’s words might have stemmed from adrenaline.

As such, there are no hard feelings between the two drivers anymore, who will each have a very different race on their hands once the lights go green in Mexico City.

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