Why Were Haas Drivers Disqualified in Monaco?

The Haas drivers, Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen, were disqualified from the Monaco Grand Prix qualifying due to irregularities in their rear wings. The FIA inspection found that the DRS opening on both cars exceeded the maximum allowed of 85 mm.

The disqualification was confirmed by the stewards after the inspection team found the infraction. Haas, which had introduced a new rear wing specification in Monaco to cope with the high downforce demands, admitted its error in configuring the new design. According to the stewards, the team had not trained its mechanics to properly set the wing gap according to the new design, resulting in non-compliance.

Haas explained that the fault was due to an inadvertent error in setting the wing gap. The maximum opening had been measured from the center in the previous design, but in the new design, the largest opening was at the extremities, which was not properly accounted for. Although the team claimed that no performance advantage was gained from this infraction, Article 1.3.3 of the International Sporting Code states that this is irrelevant.

A similar case occurred in 2021 when Lewis Hamilton was penalized in the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint qualifying for a similar infraction, which cost him his pole position.

During Monaco qualifying, Magnussen qualified 15th in Q2 after being asked to abort his final flying lap. Hulkenberg qualified 12th but was also called by the stewards for obstructing Alpine driver Esteban Ocon in Q2. Hulkenberg explained that he was unaware of Ocon's approach due to radio communication issues. The stewards took no further action as there were multiple reports of radio issues across several teams, and Ocon noted that he was not significantly impeded.