Both Haas F1 drivers disqualified from Monaco qualifying for technical compliance failure

The FIA have announced that both Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen have been disqualified from qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix following a technical compliance failure.

The FIA have announced that both Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen have been disqualified from qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix following a technical compliance failure.

Haas were referred to the stewards following a post-qualifying scrutineering check.

The FIA’s F1 technical delegate Joe Bauer had noted that the "the uppermost rear wing element adjustable positions" were not compliant with the regulations.

The FIA document at the time read: "The LHS [left-hand side] and RHS [right-hand side] outermost area of the adjustable elements [of the rear wings] were exceeding the maximum allowed 85mm on both cars".

After being referred to the stewards, they concluded that the rear wing on the Haas did not comply with the rules.

The rules state that with regards to the DRS: "The distance [at the Y plane] between the two sections of the rear wing profiles at their closest position must lie between 10mm and 85mm".

The stewards noted that the “the uppermost rear wing element adjustable positions exceeded the maximum allowed under Article 3.10.10.h of the Technical Regulations of 85mm.”

Unexpectedly, both Haas cars have been disqualified for this technical infringement.

The stewards said: “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.

“The duty to comply strictly with the Technical Regulations rests at all times with the Competitor. The team suggested that there was no performance advantage gained by the non-compliance. Article 1.3.3 of the International Sporting Code makes it clear that this is irrelevant.

“The team was candid in admitting its error. The wing was otherwise compliant with the Technical Regulations and the FIA technical team confirmed that they were satisfied with the team’s explanation for the error. Given the admitted breach of the regulations, we disqualified Car 20 and Car 27 from the qualifying classification.”

Haas had seen their cars qualify 12th and 15th respectively, but will now be forced to start from the pit lane on Sunday.