Chinese GP Ferrari disqualified « Euro Weekly News
Hamilton and Leclerc, (pictured in Bahrain in 2024), are now teammates at Ferrari.
Credit: Shutterstock: Jay Hirano
In a shock announcement, both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix that took place today, March 23.
This means that, unbelievably, Ferrari missed out on scoring any points towards that all-important Constructors Championship. While we are only two races into a new season, this is hardly the start they were hoping for.
Why was Ferrari’s new driver, Lewis Hamilton disqualified?
In the case of Lewis Hamilton, the reason for his disqualification has been cited as an issue with the rearmost-skid. A Technical Delegate’s report highlighted that when the skid wear of Hamilton’s car was checked following the end of the Chinese Grand Prix, the rear-most skid was found to be below the minimum 9mm thickness required.
After referring the matter to the stewards, a hearing took place, after which it was formally confirmed that the British driver had been disqualified from the results of Sunday’s race. The formal document on the findings of the hearing stated:
The plank assembly of Car 44 was measured and found to be 8.6mm (LHS), 8.6mm (car centreline), and 8.5mm (RHS). This is below the minimum thickness of 9mm specified under Article 3.5.9 of the Technical Regulations.
Ferrari has since confirmed that there are no mitigating circumstances to explain this infringement and has put it down to a genuine error. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the standard penalty of disqualification being applied.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc disqualified for weight infringement
Turning to the other Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc, he too received a post-race disqualification. The reason given for his penalty was that his car was found to be below the minimum weight required by the technical regulations. More specifically, the report that followed a steward’s inquiry stated that Leclerc’s SF-25 was 1kg below the minimum weight.
However, that wasn’t the end of the drama because a third disqualification was also announced, and this one was for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. His car was also found to be under the required weight, meaning that Alpine remain the only team yet to score a point this season.
Who benefitted from the Chinese GP post-disqualifications?
Of course, the disqualifications were good news for some of the drivers as they found themselves unexpectedly gaining better results. With Leclerc, and Hamilton originally finishing in P5 and P6, respectively, drivers from P7 to P10 all benefitted. This meant that Esteban Ocon, newcomer Kimi Antonelli, birthday boy Alex Albon, and the other newcomer, Ollie Bearman, all shifted up two positions and secured extra points for their teams.
In addition, as Pierre Gasly had originally finished in P11, both Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz also ended up taking home points by moving into the top ten.
All these disqualifications and penalties, and we’re only on race two – this is turning out to be quite a season.
Let’s see what Japan brings in two weeks’ time!
