Ferrari have issued a statement after both of their drivers were disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday after failing the FIA’s post-race inspections. Charles Leclerc crossed the line in P5 at the Shanghai International Circuit after he was overtaken late on by Max Verstappen, while Lewis Hamilton was one place further back in P6 after a strategy gamble backfired.
After FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer checked the cars in Parc Ferme, both Leclerc and Hamilton’s engineers were summoned to the stewards. The No.16 car clocked in 1kg underweight, while Hamilton’s skid blocks had been measured below the permitted 9mm limit.
After brief meetings with the stewards, both Leclerc and Hamilton were disqualified from the classification, along with Alpine driver Pierre Gasly, whose car also weighed 1kg under the minimum.
Addressing the double-disqualification, a Ferrari statement explained: “Following the FIA post-race scrutineering, both our cars were found not to conform to the regulations for different reasons.
Car 16 was found to be underweight by 1kg and car 44’s rearward skid wear was found to be 0.5mm below the limit. 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.”
With neither Ferrari car scoring points on Sunday, Ferrari have taken a significant hit in the Constructors’ Championship standings. Fred Vasseur’s squad are now fifth in the order, level on points with Williams, while leaders McLaren have a 61-point advantage over their former title rivals.
In the Drivers’ Championship, Hamilton and Leclerc are staring at a long and gruelling road towards the 2025 title. The Ferrari duo are sitting ninth and tenth in the standings after two races, while leader Lando Norris sits on 44 points.
