Ferrari’s driver Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after checks on their cars in the Shanghai race were unsuccessful on Sunday.
Leclerc, who finished fifth, was discovered to have an underweight car, and Hamilton, who came in sixth, was punished for excessive skid wear. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who finished 11th, was also disqualified for not being within the minimum weight requirement.
Leclerc’s car was weighed after the race at 799 kg, below the 800 kg minimum limit despite him having had to replace a damaged front wing after an early collision with Hamilton. Stewards then found that the plank on Hamilton’s car was below the minimum thickness of nine mm, something Mercedes admitted was an accidental miscalculation.
The disqualifications drastically changed the outcome of the standings, with Haas scoring high as Esteban Ocon shimmied up P5 and rookie Oliver Bearman crossed the line P8. Mercedes’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished sixth, with Williams’ Alex Albon seventh. Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz took the final two spots in the top 10.
Ferrari conceded Leclerc’s low weight situation resulted from overaggressive tire usage, whilst Mercedes accepted it’s a miscalculation regarding their tire wear. Both teams promised to learn from their mistakes.
