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Austria Now News – Austria
Racing Bulls’ New Zealand driver Liam Lawson suffered a heavy blow ahead of the Mexico City Formula 1 Grand Prix after race stewards excluded him from the qualifying results hours after the session ended, forcing him to start the race from last place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Breach in hybrid power unit energy management
According to the Austrian newspaper Heute, the 24-year-old breached the technical regulations on energy management of the hybrid power unit during his final lap in the second part of qualifying. He lifted off the throttle too late, preventing the electrical power from being reduced gradually as the rules require.
Team reported the error itself
Notably, it was the Racing Bulls team that discovered the error and reported it to the International Automobile Federation (FIA) of its own accord, but this did not spare the driver from punishment. The stewards said they had taken the team’s disclosure into account, but numerous precedents oblige them, despite all mitigating circumstances, to impose a disqualification when a car does not comply with the technical regulations.
The decision was issued at 19:05 local time, hours after the end of qualifying, and all of Lawson’s times in the session were deleted.
Hülkenberg the biggest beneficiary
Meanwhile, Audi’s German driver Nico Hülkenberg benefited from the decision, moving up to tenth on the starting grid. It comes on an eventful weekend in Mexico, after Lewis Hamilton claimed his first pole position with Ferrari.
The decision is a major setback for Lawson, who had hoped to start from a much better position than the one he will start from in Sunday’s race.
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Photo: Liauzh, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Sources
- Heute, Formel-1-Star vor Rennen in Mexiko disqualifiziert, 01.11.2026, https://www.heute.at/s/formel-1-star-vor-rennen-in-mexiko-disqualifiziert-120275146
