There is an interesting fact related to Ferrari regarding the FIA checks. The Maranello team is licking its wounds in the meantime. In the coming weeks, efforts will be made to address the issues highlighted in the first two races of the 2025 Formula 1 season. A nightmare start to the new championship from a performance perspective, a direct consequence of necessary technical compromises. To make the Shanghai weekend even more bitter was the disqualification of both cars following the post-race checks by FIA delegates.
The setup choices for cars number 16 and 44, heavily constrained by the current issues of the SF-25, were nonetheless not sufficient to avoid plank wear, at least on Lewis Hamilton’s car, unlike the irregularity found on Charles Leclerc’s SF-25 car, which weighed one kilogram less than the minimum allowed by the regulations.
Contrary to what one might think and what we have read around, excessive plank wear located on the underside of the floor was an issue that the Maranello team had anticipated. The satisfaction for pole position and victory in the sprint race gave way to concern after Saturday’s qualifying session at the 5.451-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit.
After the 100-kilometer Sprint race, in fact, Ferrari’s engineers and technicians decided to make some adjustments to the cars, based on the larger amount of fuel loaded for the Sunday race. The third-row grid position in the second qualifying session confirmed the reduced competitiveness of the Ferrari SF-25 cars.
The FIA’s communication regarding the “post-race” checks is a long-established practice, as is the structure of the documentation. In the report prepared by stewards and technical delegates of the International Federation, the checks performed on the cars are always listed. First of all, a myth needs to be debunked: “Why was Ferrari weighed?” Well, in the document called “Race Scrutineering,” it is clear that after the race, all cars are weighed.
Having clarified this point, the document also describes other checks carried out, some of which are indeed random. Among these is the plank and skid check. Nevertheless, in communication number eighty-six regarding the Chinese Grand Prix, there is a small inconsistency compared to the same communications made in the past when a competitor has been found irregular.
The most recent case of the disqualification of an F1 competitor for excessive wear on the skid plate dates back to the 2023 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin. By a strange twist of fate, it was the same two current Ferrari drivers who were disqualified on that occasion. We are talking about Charles Leclerc with the Ferrari SF-23 and Lewis Hamilton with the then all-black car, the Mercedes W14.
In the “Race Scrutineering” document from that time, car number 16 and car number 44 were included in the list of cars checked. However, in the same document related to last Sunday’s race, car number 44 from Ferrari, the SF-25, is not listed at all in the list compiled by the International Federation concerning the cars checked for skid wear.
Only at the end of the document is the following reported: “Apart from the car weights of car numbers 16 and 10 (see Document 77) and the skid wear of car number 44 (see Document 80), all car weights and the items checked were found to be in conformity with the 2025 FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.” A reference to the specific documents in which the irregularities of the two Ferrari drivers’ cars were communicated.
This is a different formality that raises doubts. Anyone familiar with the documents drafted by the FIA during race weekends knows well that they follow formalities that have been in place for years and are essentially always the same. They never change. The discrepancy regarding the verbalization of infractions concerning the plank, between the Austin 2023 race and the China 2025 race, raises malicious doubts that one can reflect on.
To avoid any misunderstandings, we should clarify that we are in the realm of hypotheses, as we do not have, at least for now, any confirmation of what is being reported. However, one question naturally arises: could this type of discrepancy be the result of a tip-off from a competitor of Ferrari? Were the Ferrari cars initially excluded from the checks only to be inspected upon a formal request from another team?
Logically, such an answer would explain the presence of references to the checks carried out at the end of the document and not according to the usual format reported by the FIA. A mystery that is unlikely to be revealed, just as the possible measurement of the wear on the skid plate of car number 16, which was already irregular in weight. A plausible hypothesis, since the skid wear was tested on both Red Bulls, Mercedes, and McLaren cars.
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