Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc disqualified from Chinese GP after Ferrari cars fail post-race technical checks

Both Ferrari cars fail different post-race scrutineering checks in Shanghai, resulting in costly double exclusion, with Charles Leclerc losing fifth and Lewis Hamilton sixth; Alpine’s Pierre Gasly also disqualified from what was 11th as final points positions dramatically shuffled

Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after their respective cars failed post-race technical checks.

Team-mates Leclerc and Hamilton finished fifth and sixth respectively for Ferrari in the Shanghai race but their cars fell foul of two different mandatory post-race scrutineering checks carried out by FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer.

Leclerc’s car was found to be 1kg underweight while Hamilton’s was thrown out for excessive skid-plank wear – the same infringement concerning the underside of the car that cost him second place at the United States GP in 2023 when a Mercedes driver.

In a statement, Ferrari said: “Charles was on a one-stop strategy today and this meant his tyre 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.

“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.”

The stewards stated that “there are no mitigating circumstances” and “the team confirmed that it was a genuine error by them”.

The removal of the two Ferraris from the final classification meant the Italian team lost a potentially-crucial 18 points in the Constructors’ Championship, dropping them behind Williams to fifth in the early-season standings and leaving them 61 points behind leaders McLaren.

Hamilton is ninth in the Drivers’ Championship on just nine points – eight of which were gained in his stunning Sprint win on Saturday – with Leclerc a place back on eight. Lando Norris leads the standings on 44 points.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who finished 11th in Shanghai, was also disqualified for failing post-race weight checks.

Ferrari’s double exclusion shuffled the second half of the top 10 in China to dramatic effect, with Esteban Ocon promoted from seventh to fifth for Haas.

Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli moved into sixth, with Williams’ Alex Albon seventh and British rookie Oliver Bearman eighth in the second Haas on what proved to be a bumper day for the American-owned team.

With Gasly excluded and therefore unable to benefit from what had been 11th, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll moved up from 12th to ninth, with Carlos Sainz taking the final point in 10th to open his Williams account.

Why was Hamilton disqualified?

In echoes of the problem that saw Hamilton’s Mercedes car excluded from the 2023 Austin event – which was another Sprint weekend, when teams’ set-up time on track in practice is shortened to just one session – the post-race checks on Sunday in China showed the thickness of the plank assembly underneath his SF-25 car was below the minimum 9mm requirement.

Measurements taken by Bauer showed the thickness of the rearward skid to be 8.6mm on the left-hand side, 8.6mm on the centreline and 8.5mm on the right-hand side.

F1 teams generally attempt to run their car as low to the ground as possible in order for aerodynamic gain but must ensure the skid blocks on the wooden plank do not wear beyond the minimum limits during the race.

Speaking before his disqualification, Hamilton had admitted he had “struggled with performance” in the SF-25 across the 56-lap race after set-up changes in the wake of his impressive Sprint on Saturday.

“Ultimately we had a pretty decent car in the Sprint and then we made some changes because we were trying to move forwards and improve the car and we made it quite a bit worse, basically, going into qualifying,” he told Sky Sports Italy.

“Then it was even worse in the race. So unfortunate but very, very hard to keep up with the guys ahead. But lots learnt.”

Then asked if Ferrari had greater ride-height challenges with their car compared to rivals amid suggestions it had been raised, Hamilton said: “Ah, who said that? I don’t know who said that we lifted the car.

“But, no, we made some other changes mostly as well as that, but not massively – it’s like small amounts. But all the pieces together made it quite a bit worse. Charles tested something in Bahrain and I hadn’t tested it but we both went that way and it was bad, so I know not to do that again!”

Why was Leclerc disqualified?

Leclerc’s Ferrari, like Gasly’s Alpine, was found to be 1kg underweight.

In Leclerc’s case, the car was found to be below the weight once the remaining fuel had been drained out of it and mandatory two-litre fuel sample taken despite the FIA taking into account the broken front wing the Monegasque had carried through the race.

Leclerc’s car had sustained the damage in a first-lap clash with Hamilton.

Ferrari chose not to replace it during the race, with Leclerc going on to surprisingly enjoy a competitive showing relative to his team-mate and finishing ahead after the Briton suggested over the radio that they switch positions.

Explaining the rules breach, Bauer said: “After the race, car number 16 [Leclerc] was weighed and its weight was 800.0kg, which is the minimum weight required… As the front wing was damaged (the missing FW endplate was recovered and weighed with the car), the car was re-weighed with an official spare front wing assembly of car 16 and its weight was 800.5kg.

“After this, fuel was drained out of the car and 2.0 litres of fuel were removed. The car was drained according to the draining procedure submitted by the team in their legality document. The car was weighed again on the FIA scales (with the official spare front wing assembly of car 16) and the weight was 799.0kg.”