Two cars disqualified in the Chinese Grand Prix. For different technical reasons. This had never happened in Formula 1 history! Ferrari suffers a huge blow with Charles Leclerc excluded from fifth place and Lewis Hamilton from sixth. A heavy blow to the prestige of the Prancing Horse: after the double ruling made by the FIA’s race stewards, Ferrari plummets to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship standings, tied with Williams on 17 points.
The Maranello team, which had boldly claimed to be contenders for both world titles, suffers an embarrassment it did not deserve. Charles Leclerc was removed from the standings because his SF-25 was found to be one kilogram under the minimum weight of 800 kg. It was reasonable to think that Charles Leclerc’s irregularity was due to the front wing damage sustained in the first-lap contact with Lewis Hamilton. But that is not the case, because Jo Bauer, the FIA’s technical delegate, after noticing the anomaly on the scale of car number 16, had a spare wing fitted. It could have been a way out, but it turned out even worse: the measurement showed an even lower weight.
The disqualification was inevitable. And just a few minutes later, the second ruling came: Lewis Hamilton was also excluded. The floor of the red number 44 car was found to be more worn than allowed by the regulations in three different points, exceeding the one-millimeter tolerance. There was no setup issue that affected the car’s behavior because the wear was checked across the entire plank, making it the result of a setup choice made before the race.
We do not believe this was an intentional choice that could imply sports fraud, but rather a dramatic error in the decision-making process: Ferrari, upon reopening the parc fermé after Lewis Hamilton’s Sprint Race victory, was forced to raise the SF-25, inevitably losing aerodynamic load. It is said that even one millimeter costs 0.2 seconds per lap. Clearly, Lewis Hamilton’s car was not raised enough, which supports the theory that the two drivers had different setups, but it is evident that a serious mistake was made in the car’s preparation process.
There are precedents for both cases: Michael Schumacher was excluded from the 1994 Belgian Grand Prix after winning because his Benetton had worn the floor too much, while last year, George Russell had his victory in Spa-Francorchamps annulled because his Mercedes was underweight by 1.5 kilograms: the race strategy had been changed, resulting in greater tire wear than calculated. And this is the same reasoning Ferrari used in a statement. The anomaly is that both irregularities occurred in the same race.
We rule out the possibility that they tried to be clever in Maranello, as in F1, performance is found by pushing the limits of every technical solution. What stands out is a glaring weakness in the team’s decisions. The reality is that the Italian side shows deep cracks in its organization.
How will Ferrari’s top management react? This will not be an incident that can simply be brushed aside.
