Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc disqualified from Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the Chinese GP after Ferrari acknowledged separate errors.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc disqualified from Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc (via Ferrari)

Ferrari’s rollercoaster of a weekend at the Chinese GP has turned into a weekend to forget for the Scuderia. After a rather underwhelming race for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, both drivers were disqualified by the FIA, alongside Alpine driver Pierre Gasly.

The two Ferrari drivers failed to fight for victory on Sunday, despite Hamilton talking a surprise win during the sprint race. Leclerc finished in fifth place while the Briton came behind him in sixth.

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Charles Leclerc was disqualified after his Ferrari SF-25 turned out to be 1 kg under the minimum weight limit of 798kg. This was not due to the damaged front wing as teams are supposed to fix all damage before a car is put on the weighing scale. Gasly was penalized for the same offence.

On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton was disqualified for excessive skid wear. This refers to the part of the plank assembly underneath the car, which was found to be less than 9mm thick, violating the rules. Disqualification is the standard punishment for both of these offences.

Ferrari accepts ‘genuine error’ over Chinese GP DSQ

Scuderia Ferrari were summoned by the race control following the measurements of both Hamilton and Leclerc’s cars. The team representative from Maranello accepted that the measurements were correct, insisting that Ferrari had made a genuine error. Though, the Italian team recognized that there are no exceptions and decided not to protest the disqualifications.

There are no mitigating circumstances and the team confirmed that it was a genuine error by them.

FIA said in a statement
Charles Leclerc and Fred Vasseur (via IMAGO)
Charles Leclerc and Fred Vasseur (via IMAGO)

This has made things even more difficult for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. The two drivers already had a bad finish to the weekend and the DSQs only make matters worse. The Ferrari SF-25 proved to be a major challenge for both drivers after a set-up change made things difficult right before qualifying.

Now, Ferrari will need to go back to the drawing board, not only to extract more performance but to understand the reason behind the errors. Such mistakes cannot be repeated in Formula 1 and can cost the team heavily in the Constructors’ Championship against the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes this season.