AUSTIN, Texas — Shortly after his U.S. Grand Prix disqualification was confirmed, Kevin Magnussen took to social media to criticise Formula One’s fuel regulations.
Magnussen finished ninth at the Circuit of the Americas but was thrown out of the result for breaching the fuel limit mandated in the regulations — 105 kg for an entire race. Although the stewards verdict did not specify how much the Haas had been over, Magnussen used an exclamation mark to point out that it had been just 0.1kg.
Unfortunately today we were racing in Formula Fuelsaving rather than Formula 1. And we used 0.1kg (!) too much for the whole race so we got disqualified. Those are the rules so we just have to manage better. Car was great though and the pit stop was amazing. On to the next one!
— Kevin Magnussen (@KevinMagnussen) October 21, 2018
It is Haas’ second race disqualification of the year. The team is still awaiting the November 1 verdict on its appeal over Romain Grosjean’s at the Italian Grand Prix, where its car was declared illegal.
The exclusion caps a miserable home race for Gene Haas’ team. Romain Grosjean will serve a three-place grid penalty in Mexico for his clash with Charles Leclerc on the opening lap which put him out of the race.
Making matters worse for Haas is that Renault, its rival in the battle for fourth position in the constructors’ championship and the instigator of the investigation into Grosjean’s car at Monza, delivered a strong result. Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz finished sixth and seventh, which had been a gain of 14 points before Magnussen’s exclusion — they now leave Austin with a 16-point gain over the American team.
Haas has the right to appeal the verdict of the stewards. At the current state of play, Haas trails Renault by 22 points in the battle with three races to spare.
Magnussen’s exclusion was the second of the race, with Force India’s Esteban Ocon being kicked out due to his car exceeding the mandated fuel-flow limit of 100 kg/hour during the opening lap of the race. Those two disqualifications promoted Sergio Perez to eighth and moved Brendon Hartley and Marcus Ericsson into the points-paying positions.