Yesterday, after finishing sixth, Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix following technical inspections on his car. The skid was found to be excessively worn beyond the regulatory limits.
For the Briton, this marks the third disqualification of his career. The first two occurred in Melbourne in 2009, for misleading the race stewards, and at COTA in 2023, again due to excessive skid wear when he was still driving for Mercedes.
The Chinese Grand Prix quickly turned into a disaster for Scuderia Ferrari, as along with Lewis Hamilton, his teammate Charles Leclerc was also disqualified. The Monegasque’s car was found to be below the FIA’s mandatory minimum weight. Yesterday’s event also marked the first time in World Championship history that the Italian team had both cars disqualified since 1950.
Lewis Hamilton also lost the fastest lap he had set with a time of 1:35.069, taking it from Lando Norris. With that lap, the Briton had achieved the fastest lap for the 16th consecutive season, surpassing the record of 15 he shares with Michael Schumacher. The only year he failed to do so was 2009, but since then, he has always secured this result in every championship. Now he still has 22 more races to reclaim it. However, if he fails, he will lose a record he has been chasing for 15 years.
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