Liam Lawson has lost his top 10 start at the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix due to a technical infraction.
Lawson qualified eighth fastest in Mexico, but would start ninth at best due to a one-place grid penalty for his unnecessary clash with Max Verstappen in Friday practice – for which he apologized to Verstappen.
But he was then flagged for violating F1’s complex MGU-K power deployment rules just after completing his final lap in Q2.
Technical violations are usually a black and white matter that result in disqualification – and that duly happened later on Saturday evening.
Lawson and Racing Bulls were summoned because “the maximum driver power demand and DC electrical power of the (MGU-K) were reduced at rates above what is permitted”, according to FIA F1 technical delegate Jo Bauer.
Essentially, at the end of the Q2 lap, Lawson’s car lost all deployment of electrical power too suddenly.
The battery-powered MGU-K adds up to 350 kW on top of the motor, but when that increase is due to end, the rules don’t let it die out all at once.
It must disappear gradually, by no more than 50 kW or 100 kW per second depending on the track. A complete cut takes several seconds.
“Maximum Driver Power Demand” is the total power the car makes available to the driver at full throttle, while “MGU-K DC Electric Power” is that which actually comes from the battery motor.
Both are expected to decline gradually, but the delegate’s report says they have declined more quickly than expected.
Although Racing Bulls maintained there was no performance advantage over what Lawson did, that could be linked to the regulatory requirements of a trick that has been deployed by Mercedes and Racing Bulls’ engine supplier Red Bull Ford Powertrains at times this year.
They initially found a way to bypass the gradual deceleration by using a safety mode that allows the MGU-K to be reduced instantly to 0 kW.
It is designed for use in emergency situations but has never been regulated as such, and the price is that the team is then “barred” from using the MGU-K for a full minute afterwards.
This was considered potentially dangerous, however, as it caused cars to slow down and sometimes stop altogether on the track if the loss of MGU-K coincided with too low boost pressure and a complete loss of engine power.
A later workaround was discovered. The steady drop of 50 kW every second can be avoided if the driver power demand is negative and the ICE power is negative and the ERS-K power needs to be reduced further to meet the driver demand.
The former can be achieved if drivers can release the throttle just before the end of the lap, which can be an attractive compromise when there is a relatively short journey between the final corner and the timing line.
This may explain why Lawson’s teammate, Arvid Lindblad, stood up just before the end of his qualifying rounds – but Lawson himself remained flat out in the round in question.
This could have simply been a matter of preference, but regardless of when the driver chose to do it on either side of the finish line, he still has to take off so that the driver’s power demand is not negative.
And Lawson didn’t do it quickly enough in his final run in Q2.
The stewards’ report said: “The team argued that this provided no performance advantage, but it is clear that non-compliance with the technical regulations is not excused if no performance advantage is achieved.”
Gn sports
