European Ferrari fans woke up for a very bitter coffee last Sunday after the second round of the 2025 Formula 1 championship, the Chinese Grand Prix. A fifth and sixth place finish for the Maranello team at the 5.451-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit wouldn’t have been anything to celebrate, but seeing Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton disqualified after giving their all for 56 laps at an average of 201 kilometers per hour is truly shocking.
It is not normal for two Ferrari cars to be excluded from the classification due to errors that are unacceptable for the team that has contested more Grands Prix than any other in history, namely 1,102 to be exact.
A kilogram underweight for Charles Leclerc and a fraction of a millimeter for Lewis Hamilton are not irregularities or tricks that help win races, as we have repeatedly pointed out over the last few days; rather, they are oversights that are frustrating precisely because they are minimal, useless, and unjustifiable, caused by miscalculations (or extreme measures) that Ferrari simply cannot afford. And instead of leading with apologies to the fans for their poorly reciprocated passion, the justifications given were more of a desperate attempt to climb a slippery slope.
The double disqualification overshadowed the fact that Ferrari was not particularly strong in China to begin with. Charles Leclerc insists that without the front wing damage from his light collision with his Maranello teammate, he could have won at the Shanghai circuit. We all love Charles, but he is the only one who thinks that. As for Lewis Hamilton, he was uncomfortable from start to finish, even trying a desperate move by opting for a second pit stop, but nothing changed.
Despite everything, the gap to the front was not insurmountable, which, on an otherwise forgettable Sunday, offers a glimmer of hope for the future, starting in seven days at the Suzuka circuit, a highly demanding track where it would be ideal to see a different Ferrari, free from controversy and mistakes. The same Ferrari team, to be clear, that we admired early Saturday in the Sprint race, dominated by Lewis Hamilton with a car set up lower, a lighter chassis, and no issues with the floor, unlike in Australia and the clumsy situation in the Shanghai Grand Prix.
At this point, however, a necessary and somewhat mischievous question arises: will modifications and updates to the SF-25 be enough, or is there a fundamental flaw in the design—one that would have catastrophic consequences for the 2025 Formula 1 season?
While awaiting the answer to Maranello’s fate, Shanghai was painted in McLaren orange, with Oscar Piastri taking the lead and comfortably keeping his teammate Lando Norris behind. McLaren’s advantage over everyone else is evident in this start of the championship. Mercedes is the second force but at a safe distance. Then there’s Red Bull, with Max Verstappen performing miracles and single-handedly carrying the team’s weight. We’ll see if Yuki Tsunoda promotion starting from the next race will bring anything new for the Austrian side.
This, in summary, is the verdict from China, which was a dull, boring, and depressing race for Ferrari fans. But it is still early, and we refrain from drawing conclusions or making judgments that could be overturned at any moment. We wait, watching from the sidelines. With the usual patience.
— see video above —
