March 23, 2025
Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been disqualified for the Chinese Grand Prix
Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been disqualified for the Chinese Grand Prix after both cars failed post-race scrutineering checks. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was also disqualified
Both Ferrari’s had been sitting in points positions following the conclusion of the Chinese grand prix in Shanghai – Leclerc in fifth and Hamilton in sixth place for a total of eighteen accumulated points. That is now all washed away, putting a bit of a dent in Ferrari’s Constructors championship bid. Gasly had finished just outside the points in eleventh position.
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Intriguingly enough, both Ferrari’s were expulsed for different reasons.
In a report from FIA F1 Technical Delegate Jo Bauer, it was revealed that Leclerc’s car weighed precisely 800kg – the minimum weight required – when he returned it to the pits post-race. Given that his front wing was damaged in early contact with team mate Hamilton, Leclerc’s car was re-weighed with the retrieved endplate and then an official spare front wing, increasing the overall weight to 800.5kg.
However, when fuel was drained from the car, with two liters being removed as per the draining procedure submitted by Ferrari, it dropped to a weight of 799kg – putting it just below the minimum requirement.
Gasly’s car also weighed 800kg at the finish, before a fuel mass check was carried out and 1.1 kg of fuel was removed, again as per the draining procedure submitted by Alpine, meaning it then came in at 799kg.
For Hamilton, the plank assembly on his car was found to be below the required thickness. Measurements were taken along the stiffness compliant area at three different points of the periphery, with the recorded measurements being 8.6 mm on the left-hand side, 8.6 mm at the car’s center and 8.5 mm on the right-hand side – less than the minimum thickness required
In a statement, Ferrari said: “Charles was on a one-stop strategy today and this meant his tire wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight. With regard to Lewis’ skid wear, we misjudged the consumption by a small margin. There was no intention to gain any advantage.”
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“We will learn from what happened today and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again. Clearly it’s not the way we wanted to end our Chinese GP weekend, neither for ourselves, nor for our fans whose support for us is unwavering.”
It will be interesting to see how Ferrari – and Alpine – respond when we go racing in Japan in a fortnight’s time.
