Esteban Ocon has been thrown out of Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying after the rear wing of his Haas didn’t pass the FIA’s deflection tests.
After a chaotic qualifying session in the streets of Baku, Ocon’s rear wing was found to deflect more than the allowed tolerance of 0.5mm, with the FIA’s technical delegate Jo Bauer referring the matter to the stewards.
Bauer wrote: “A rear wing main plane tip deflection test according to TR Article 3.15.17 was carried out on car 31. The deflection figures measured on this rear wing exceeded the allowed deflection of 0.5mm. Therefore I am referring this matter to the stewards for their consideration.”
The stewards noted that Ocon’s wing deflected “0.6mm on the left side and 0.825mm on the right side” and therefore confirmed Ocon would be excluded from qualifying, forcing him to start from the pitlane on Sunday.
They wrote that Haas attributed the discrepancy to a production error. “The team conceded that the test procedure as outlined in the regulations had been followed and explained that the discrepancy was a result of a problem with the production of the assembly of this specific part,” the verdict read. “The Stewards determine that the vehicle does not comply with the regulations and hence impose the usual penalty of disqualification from the qualifying classifications.”
Article 3.15.17 of F1’s technical regulations was tightened up at the start of the season as the FIA clamped down on teams exploiting aero-elasticity of the rear wing, resulting in a so-called mini-DRS phenomenon. The allowed deflection of the rear wing main plane was reduced from 2mm to 0.5mm when placed under a 750Nm load during a static deflection test.
At Barcelona’s Spanish Grand Prix in June, the FIA also clamped down on front wing flexing to further stop aero-elasticity from being such a major talking point among teams in 2025. Ocon and Haas are now the first party to fall foul of those tightened up regulations.
Esteban Ocon, Haas F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
Ocon had only qualified in 18th in Baku after brake issues led to him being eliminated in Q1, so his sporting penalty is set to be relatively limited.
“We had a massive braking problem in qualifying,” he reported. “I think in my lap I must have locked up three times and couldn’t get the car stopped, ran wide in most corners. Obviously, the wind didn’t make things easy, but that’s not the reason why we are out.
“We need to investigate that. It was the same thing in FP3. I was braking 30 or 40 bars less than Ollie [Bearman] and still couldn’t get the car stopped and I was going straight into the run-off areas.
“There’s much more pace in the car and it’s a day wasted, so I hope we can get some opportunities tomorrow. We’ve seen sometimes a bit of difficulties in braking, but today was out of this world. It was insane.”
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