Both Force India and Haas finished the race with solid results, but both teams will leave the weekend empty handed after being disqualified from the race for fuel-related violations. The exclusions boost Sergio Pérez, Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson into the points.
Esteban Ocon was the first driver of the weekend to be disqualified from the race for a fuel-related violation. The stewards found via telemetry that the car violated the 100kg/h maximum fuel flow restriction on the first lap of the race. The stewards flagged the team after the race and excluded the results.
“What happened was that there was a spike of flow and then a trough – so if you look at it over a lap it was neutral,” Force India’s team principal Otmar Szafnauer explained. “If you look at it over the lap there is no infringement, but it depends how you chop up the lap. This is the first time it has happened.”
When Haas heard of Force India’s disqualification, they were prepared to celebrate being promoted to their highest United States Grand Prix finishing position. But the celebrations were short-lived when the stewards decided that Kevin Magnussen too should be disqualified from his P9 finish for using more than the 105kg of fuel permitted during the race.
This is Haas’ second disqualification this season, having had Romain Grosjean’s car excluded from the results in the Italian Grand Prix for a floor design violation. That decision is set to be appealed next month.
The most recent violation hurts the team’s result in their World Constructors’ Championship title battle with Renault, losing another 2 points to the team. This means that the team have forfeited a total of 12 points to Renault in the championship race due to disqualifications. Haas is currently 22 points behind Renault.
Sergio Pérez benefits from the disqualification of his teammate and Magnussen, jumping from P10 to P8 and seeing his points earnings increase by 3. Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson also benefit from the results, moving into the points scoring positions and collecting 2 points and 1 points respectively.
