Lewis Hamilton loses all-time F1 record with Chinese GP disqualification

Lewis Hamilton took an all-time F1 record, but was stripped of it in the Chinese GP.

Hamilton China sprint quali

Lewis Hamilton lost the all-time F1 record he set in F1’s Chinese Grand Prix, following his shock post-race disqualification at the Shanghai International Circuit.

The seven-time world champion had initially finished in sixth after opting for a two-stop strategy, but was expunged from the results after the skid-block on his SF-25 was found to be 0.4-0.5mm too short in routine post-race checks.

It is the third disqualification of the 40-year-old’s F1 career, with the Briton having previously been disqualified in the 2009 Australian and 2023 United States GP.

In the first of those at Albert Park, he was disqualified for lying to the stewards. Ironically, he then lost a second place finish at the Circuit of the Americas for too much wear on the skid-block of his Mercedes W14.

The Chinese GP quickly unravelled into a disaster for Ferrari, as Charles Leclerc was also disqualified after his car was found to have been under the legal minimum weight of 800 kg.

It is the first time in the history of the world championship that Ferrari has had two cars disqualified from a grand prix, dating back to the Scuderia’s entry into the sport in 1950.

With his disqualification, Hamilton also lost the fastest lap of the race he had set – a 1:35.069, some 0.385s clear of Lando Norris.

In setting that lap time, Hamilton had set a fastest lap for the 16th consecutive season, thus breaking the joint-record he holds with Michael Schumacher of 15.

Hamilton’s run started with his fastest lap at the 2010 Chinese GP, having not set a fastest lap during the 2009 campaign.

Remarkably, 2009 is the only year of Hamilton’s career in which he failed to add to his 67 fastest laps to date, 10 behind Schumacher’s all-time record of 77.

Elsewhere, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly also being disqualified for an underweight car, the 2025 Chinese GP is the first F1 race since the 2004 Canadian Grand Prix to feature at least three disqualifications.

At that race, the Williams and Toyota drivers were all thrown out for illegal brake ducts, whilst the last race to feature exactly three DSQs was the 1989 Canadian GP when Stefan Johansson, Nigel Mansell and Alessandro Nannini were all black-flagged.

Ferrari set for talks with F1 over Lewis Hamilton radio ‘joke’

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur labelled F1’s broadcast “a joke” during the Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton China quali

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur is planning talks with F1 over its use of team radio after being angered by the broadcasting of some of Lewis Hamilton’s messages in the Chinese GP.

In fourth, Hamilton was under increasing pressure from teammate Charles Leclerc. He told the pit wall he would “let Charles go because I am struggling” to avoid costing both cars valuable race time.

Engineer Riccardo Adami then informed the Briton that the cars would be swapped at Turn 14 – the hairpin at the end of the back straight – but neither of these messages made the FOM world feed broadcast.

After further being instructed to let Leclerc through by Adami, which was broadcast, Hamilton replied: ‘When he is closer, yes”, indicating an apparent refusal to follow team orders.

Further routine radio traffic followed, with Hamilton eventually letting Leclerc go at Turn 1. He finished sixth, with the Monégasque fifth after being passed by Max Verstappen late on before both cars were disqualified for separate technical infringements.

Looking back on the situation before the first double Ferrari DSQ, Vasseur was unhappy at FOM’s portrayal of the incident.

“This is a joke from FOM because the first call came from Lewis – that Lewis asked us to swap,” Vasseur told media, including RacingNews365.

“But to make the show, to create the mess around the situation, they broadcast only the second part of the question.

“I will discuss it with them.”

Ask your question to F1

Suggested to Vasseur there was a deliberate attempt by FOM to build a narrative between Hamilton and his new engineer, Vasseur was dismissive.

“You [the media] made a huge mess last week on the message between the engineer and Lewis,” said Vasseur. “Honestly, when Lewis came back to the briefing room, he said to his engineer, ‘Good job’.

“But because they are discussing how to use K1 and [Hamilton saying], ‘Don’t speak when I am in the fight, I had tons of questions. ‘Is it a mess?’

“No, that’s life. We are just there to get performance. We have to know each other. I don’t want polemics.

“You can’t imagine the number of questions I had about this [walking] from the garage to here [his post-race written media session] asking the same thing – Is it a mess?

“It is Lewis who asked to swap. I’m not even sure you would have this kind of situation 10 times during the season in other teams, and we really appreciated the call from Lewis to say, ‘Guys, I’m losing the pace, I’m keen to swap’.

“Then it took us one lap to ask him to swap with Charles, but then the pace was back. [It was then suggested to him] ‘Let’s stay like this for a little bit’. [But he said] ‘No, I don’t have the pace, I will swap’.

“Honestly, the collaboration between the two guys is mega and I can’t complain for a single second. You have to ask the question to Stefano [Domenicali] because I’m not in charge of the broadcast.”