Verstappen in FIA appeal after Hamilton and Leclerc disqualified

Max Verstappen has called on the FIA to tweak its scrutineering process after the disqualifications of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from the United States Grand Prix.

Second and sixth-place finishers Hamilton and Leclerc were expunged from the results post-race after failing extra random tests the FIA carries out after every Grand Prix to ensure compliance with the rules as it cannot check every car.

The duo were chucked out for excessive plank wear, exceeding the 1mm tolerance as part of the extra tests, but team-mate George Russell and Carlos Sainz were not subject - despite running similar set-ups.

This is something Verstappen feels needs to change, when reflecting on the disqualifications ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix where he can break his own record with a 16th win of the season.

"Of course nobody tries to do it on purpose, but because of the Sprint format, you only have one practice session to nail everything," Verstappen told media including RacingNews365.

"Once you are in the wrong [with set-up], there's nothing you can do, the only thing you can is bump on the tyre pressure - but then you're driving around on balloon tyres.

"It is not what you want to see for them, but also as a team, we know that dropping the car gives you that performance, but it is because of the whole format that you put yourself in that position because normally, I don't think anyone would in a normal weekend.

"The problem is that it is just impossible to check everything but the thought process from every team is that no-one wants to be illegal, no-one sets the car up to be illegal.

"With the random checks that get carried out, I mean sometimes it is the top four, sometimes it is in the middle of the field, that is just how it goes.

"You can't check every car for every single part, otherwise we need 100 more poeple to do these kind of things, but I think the only thing is that if you check one car, and it is illegal, you should check the other one as well.

"That is for me the only thing, because otherwise, you disqualify one then the other moves up a position as normally you always run quite similar set-ups."