Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton’s best weekend of 2023 ended in the worst possible outcome. Their strongest challenge against Red Bull and Max Verstappen yet ended in a disqualification for a rare breach of a near-30-year-old rule - with Ferrari falling foul of this as well. Red Bull was checked, hadn’t made the same mistake - and therefore Verstappen’s victory stood. Conversely Hamilton was stripped of his second place at the United States GP just a few hours after chasing Verstappen closely in his upgraded Mercedes in easily his and the team’s most competitive showing of the season, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got excluded from sixth place at the same time. Their cars breached the same technical regulation that refers to the thickness of the plank assembly under the car, with a minimum thickness of 9mm accepted after a competitive session due to wear. It put a dampener on a much improved weekend for Mercedes even if there were a few factors behind dominant world champion Verstappen