Ferrari chief warns Hamilton could face more F1 disqualifications

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has admitted that his team could be hit with more Formula 1 disqualifications in the future.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were both disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix last weekend after failing post-race checks for skid block wear and car weight respectively.

Leclerc and Pierre Gasly joined George Russell (Belgium, 2024) as the only drivers in the last decade to be disqualified for underweight cars, while Hamilton and Leclerc (both US GP 2023) were the only drivers disqualified for skid block wear this century until last weekend in Shanghai.

Now, in an interview with French publication L’Equipe, Vasseur was asked whether he believed Ferrari will experience more disqualifications over the coming year: “Yes, that’s for sure,” he said. “You have to distinguish between disqualification for taking risks and disqualification for cheating.

“The aim of the game in F1 is to push yourself to the limit of all parameters, everywhere. To get to the last gram of weight, to get to the last tenth of a millimetre of skid, to get to the last millimetre of wing deformation.

“So it’s certain that the more pressure you’re under, the more intense the fight, the closer you need to get to those limits and the more risks you take.

“Verstappen, a year and a half ago, his car was worth 1:28.00 but the second-place finisher was worth 1:28.7. He didn’t have to push himself to the limit, to the last millimetre of ride height, nor scrape off the last hundred grams of weight or push the brakes harder than the limit.

“He was doing 1:28.1 and he had pole by five tenths of a second. Today, life isn’t the same. So he also makes mistakes, he makes adjustment errors like the others because we are all now in this dynamic of searching for the limit.”

Hamilton’s nightmare Ferrari start

Hamilton’s disqualification from the main race in Shanghai means that he has only managed to secure one point from his opening two full-length races as a Ferrari driver.

His stunning victory in the Chinese GP sprint race has given his points tally a respectable look, sat one point ahead of Leclerc, but the team are struggling in the constructors’ standings, sat down in fifth place with just 17 points.

Hamilton was brought in by the Maranello outfit to try and push Ferrari on to win their first world championship of any kind since 2008, while the Brit himself is hoping to once again challenge for a record-breaking eighth world title.

Even before their disqualifications in China, both drivers appeared to be a long way behind the two McLarens and the Mercedes of George Russell, and there is a lot of work to do if either Ferrari or Hamilton want to challenge for a world championship in 2025.