Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen disqualified at Monaco Grand Prix qualifying
Haas drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen have been disqualified from the 2024 F1 Monaco Grand Prix qualifying for non-compliant rear wings in both cars. They will start the race from the pitlane.
Magnussen and Hulkenberg qualified P15 and P12, respectively in Monaco earlier today, performing decently throughout the weekend. Both their cars were summoned by the FIA after the qualifying session. An investigation revealed that the rear wings of the cars were not in compliance with the regulations.
A statement from the FIA regarding Nico Hulkenberg's car #27, read:
"The Technical Delegate discovered on examination that the uppermost rear wing element adjustable positions exceeded the maximum allowed under article 3.10.10.h of the Technical Regulations of 85mm."
The same went for his teammate, Kevin Magnussen's car. The team will start the race from the pitlane because the Parc Ferme regulations do not allow a car to start with the rest of the field if any major changes in the aerodynamics are made after the start of the qualifying session.
This could hammer down Haas since Monaco is extremely hard to perform overtakes and they would have to clear off 10 cars on the field to get into a point-scoring position.
Haas explains "new design" of rear wing was the reason for non-compliance with regulations
The American team introduced a new design of the rear wing for the Monaco Grand Prix. This was also the case for many other teams who had circuit-specific changes in their cars. Monaco, being a challenging track, is largely dependent upon the car's setup because of the small differences in lap times.
In their statement, the FIA revealed Haas' reason for the non-compliant rear wing. The team mentioned that the use of the new design led to an error on their side since the old design was under the regulations.
The statement read:
"The team explained that this was the consequence of an inadvertent error on their part in setting the wing flap gap. The wing used was a new design that was used for the first time in Monaco. The old design was set to be compliant with the regulations with the largest gap measured from the centre of the wing. Under the new design, the largest gap was at the extremities of the wing but the team had not trained its mechanics to set the gap per the new design, resulting in the non-compliance."
Pit strategy will be crucial for the team during the race to gain positions. Haas has scored seven points so far this season and stands seventh in the Constructors' Championship.