Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly have all been disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after issues were found with their cars during the FIA’s post-race inspections. The seven-time world champion endured a frustrating race in Shanghai, finishing sixth behind Max Verstappen and team-mate Leclerc after a gamble on a two-stop strategy failed to pay off.
However, Hamilton’s Sunday was dealt an even worse conclusion, with the Brit one of three drivers called to the stewards. After an assessment in Parc Ferme, the No.44 Ferrari machine was found to have skid blocks worn below the 9mm thickness permitted in the regulations. According to a report from the FIA’s technical delegate, Jo Bauer, Hamilton’s skid blocks measured between 8.5mm and 8.6mm, leaving the 40-year-old with a nervous wait ahead of him to discover his fate, before his P5 finish was scrubbed from the record.
A statement read: “The stewards determine that article 3.5.9 of the FIA Formula One technical regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty of a disqualification needs to be applied.”
They explained: “During the hearing, the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly.
“The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team.
Leclerc and Gasly were also called to the stewards and faced the same punishment. The minimum weight in post-race inspection is 800kg, but the Ferrari and Alpine machines both weighed in at 799kg.
An FIA statement for Leclerc’s disqualification read: “The stewards determine that article 4.1 of the Formula One technical regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty of a disqualification needs to be applied for such an infringement.”
Disqualification meant a frustrating end to a mixed weekend for Hamilton. The Stevenage-born driver won the sprint race in a commanding fashion but clashed with Leclerc at the race start on Sunday and struggled to showcase his pace.
“Balance-wise, from the sprint race, we made these changes, and the car was terrible after that,” he explained.”So I really struggled from then on. I think it’s good learnings and hopefully won’t do that again as I continue to learn this car.”
Elaborating with Sky Sports F1, he added: “Ultimately, basically, 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.
“Then it was even worse in the race. So unfortunate but very, very hard to keep up with the guys ahead. But lots learnt. The pit stop is too long here, it’s a lot of seconds to catch up, and they were still going fast at the end. Max was doing something similar to me and I had much fresher tyres, so it wasn’t great.”
