MERCEDES AIMING TO COME BACK STRONGER

Team learn from Hamilton’s disqualification and take positives from happier’ car in US

- 

AUSTIN - Mercedes accepted their punishment after Formula One stewards disqualified Lewis Hamilton from second place in Sunday's United States Grand Prix along with sixth-placed Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

The governing body FIA had reported both drivers to stewards after their cars failed post-race checks on the under-floor wooden planks at Austin's Circuit of the Americas. Stewards imposed the standard penalty after both teams acknowledged the measurements carried out were correct.

Mercedes had stated that the high wear on the skid pads was probably due to the bumpy track and the race being run to a sprint format for the first time.

That meant a 100km race on Saturday and only one practice session instead of the usual three.

"Set-up choices on a sprint weekend are always a challenge with just one hour of free practice, and even more so at a bumpy circuit like (Circuit of the Americas) and running a new package," said Mercedes principal Toto Wolff.