Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix because their cars failed technical inspections after the race.
Leclerc and Hamilton, who race for Ferrari as teammates, finished fifth and sixth in Shanghai. However, their cars did not pass two different checks by the FIA technical delegate.
Leclerc`s car was found to be 1kg lighter than the minimum weight. Hamilton`s car was disqualified due to excessive wear on the skid block, which is a part on the bottom of the car. This is similar to an incident at the United States GP in 2023 when Hamilton, then driving for Mercedes, lost his second-place finish.
Ferrari stated that Leclerc was using a one-stop strategy, which caused high tire wear and resulted in the car being underweight.
Regarding Hamilton`s skid wear, Ferrari admitted they miscalculated the wear by a small amount.
Ferrari claimed they had no intention of gaining any advantage.
They added that they will learn from this and ensure these mistakes are not repeated. They acknowledged that this was not the desired end to their Chinese GP weekend for the team or their supportive fans.
1) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
2) Lando Norris, McLaren
3) George Russell, Mercedes
4) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
5) Esteban Ocon, Haas
6) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
7) Alex Albon, Williams
8) Oliver Bearman, Haas
9) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
10) Carlos Sainz, Williams
The race stewards said there were `no mitigating circumstances` and `the team confirmed that it was a genuine error`.
The disqualification of both Ferrari cars means the team lost 18 important points in the Constructors` Championship. This drops them to fifth place, behind Williams, and 61 points behind the leading team, McLaren.
Hamilton is now ninth in the Drivers` Championship with nine points, eight of which he earned from his Sprint race win on Saturday. Leclerc is tenth with eight points. Lando Norris leads the championship with 44 points.
Alpine`s Pierre Gasly, who finished 11th, was also disqualified for being underweight after the race.
Ferrari`s double disqualification significantly changed the top 10 results in China, especially benefiting Haas.
Esteban Ocon of Haas was promoted from seventh to fifth place, and his teammate Oliver Bearman moved from 10th to eighth.
Mercedes` Kimi Antonelli advanced to sixth, and Williams` Alex Albon became seventh.
With Gasly also disqualified, Lance Stroll of Aston Martin moved from 12th to ninth, and Carlos Sainz took the final point in 10th, his first points for Williams.
Why was Hamilton disqualified?
Similar to the 2023 Austin event, where Hamilton`s Mercedes was excluded during a Sprint weekend (which has less practice time), post-race checks in China revealed that the plank under Hamilton`s Ferrari SF-25 car was thinner than the minimum 9mm requirement.
Measurements showed the rear skid block thickness to be 8.6mm on the left, 8.6mm in the center, and 8.5mm on the right.
F1 teams try to run their cars as low as possible for better aerodynamics but must ensure the skid blocks do not wear beyond the allowed limits during the race.
Before his disqualification, Hamilton mentioned he had `struggled with performance` in the race after changes were made to the car setup following his Sprint race performance.
`We had a good car in the Sprint, but we made changes to improve it for qualifying, which made it worse,` he told Sky Sports Italy.
`It was even worse in the race. It was hard to keep up with the cars ahead. But we learned a lot.`
When asked about Ferrari potentially raising the car`s ride height, Hamilton responded, `Who said we lifted the car? I don`t know who said that. We made other small changes as well, but not massive. But combined, they made it worse. Charles tested something in Bahrain that I didn`t, but we both went in that direction, and it was bad. I know not to do that again!`
Why was Leclerc disqualified?
Leclerc`s Ferrari, like Gasly`s Alpine, was found to be 1kg underweight.
Even after accounting for Leclerc`s damaged front wing from a first-lap collision with Hamilton, and after draining the fuel and taking a mandatory two-liter fuel sample, the car was still underweight.
Leclerc`s car was damaged in a first-lap incident with Hamilton.
Ferrari decided not to replace the wing during the race, and Leclerc continued to perform well, even finishing ahead of Hamilton after Hamilton suggested they swap positions over the radio.
Explaining the rule violation, FIA`s Bauer said: `After the race, car number 16 [Leclerc] weighed 800.0kg, which is the minimum weight… As the front wing was damaged, the car was re-weighed with a spare front wing, and it weighed 800.5kg.`
`Fuel was drained, and 2.0 liters were removed. The car was drained as per the team`s procedure. It was weighed again with the spare front wing and weighed 799.0kg.`
There is typically no flexibility when technical regulations are breached, regardless of how small the infraction or whether it provided a performance advantage.
