Bottas: FIA should have plank tested all F1 cars in Austin

Valtteri Bottas feels the FIA should have conducted plank-wear tests on all F1 cars following the United States Grand Prix.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc were both disqualified after it was discovered the plank underneath their cars had worn below the legal limit.

The severe bumpiness of the Circuit of the Americas, in tandem with the fact all cars were locked down in parc fermé after the grand prix qualifying session on Friday, played their part in Hamilton losing second place and Leclerc his sixth position.

Whilst Mercedes, in particular, felt CoTA offered an extenuating circumstance given the bumps, there are no grey areas when it comes to the FIA’s technical regulations and whether a car has complied or not.

The plank-wear test is, however, only conducted on four cars post-race, and not the whole field, unlike with many other areas of a car and on the majority, primarily due to time constraints.

The anomaly after the race in Austin is that 50 percent – two of the four cars – were found to be illegal.

Bottas has confirmed that Alfa Romeo were forced to run their cars higher than normal due to “concerns about the plank wear”.

That, in turn, compromised the car’s setup and left Bottas and Zhou 12th and 13th on the final classification, even after two cars ahead had been excluded.

“Some other teams had issues (with the plank) as well,” said Bottas, speaking to the media ahead of this weekend’s Mexican Grand Prix.

“We just couldn’t run the car low enough, and I feel like with the track like that, with such low mechanical grip on the old Tarmac sections, if you don’t have load and your power is too high, then you lose even more.

“I feel like I was quite compromised with the setup because of the bumps. We could have run lower, but then we probably would have been illegal.”

Asked by Speedcafe whether the FIA should have checked all cars given two of four were illegal, he replied: “To be fair for everyone on a track like that, probably yes.

“For sure, some teams took more of a gamble on the ride height and stiffness; some were more conservative, maybe us perhaps.

“So on a track like that, conditions like that, probably yeah, but I don’t know if it’s possible time-wise.”

Suggested to the Finn that Alfa Romeo was effectively ‘punished’ for taking care of the plank on its cars, he said: “Yes, others were as well, but not some maybe. In the end, they (Hamilton and Leclerc) were punished at least.”