Ferrari Formula 1 drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have been disqualified from Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc’s car was found to be below the minimum weight, while Lewis Hamilton’s car was found to be in breach of the technical regulations relating to the rearward skid.
Cause of disqualification
Leclerc was referred to the stewards when the FIA‘s F1 technical delegate Jo Bauer found his Ferrari to be 1kg under the 798kg weight limit (accounting for a required two-litre fuel sample).
The stewards elected to disqualify Leclerc for breaching the weight limit rule as is the standard punishment for such an offence.
“Car #16 was weighed by the FIA technical delegate inside and outside scales with both scales showing the same result of 799kg after the customary draining of fuel and the replacement of a broken front wing,” the stewards statement read.
“The calibration of both scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor. During the hearing there was no challenge to the FIA’s measurements which are taken to be correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly.
“There are no mitigating circumstances and the team confirmed that it was a genuine error by them.”
The disqualification meant Leclerc lost his fifth-place finish.
Hamilton was called to the stewards after his car was examined post-race, and it was found that his rearward skid was below the minimum thickness required. He too was disqualified, having originally finished sixth behind his team mate.
Also Read: Lewis Hamilton Post First Win For Ferrari At Chinese Grand Prix Sprint
Impact of disqualification
The double disqualification has cost Leclerc 10 points and Hamilton eight, while the team lost 18 in total. In a year where the margins between Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes are expected to be tight, those points differences could be vitally important.
While the team did collect 12 points in Saturday’s Sprint in Shanghai, they find themselves 61 points adrift of McLaren in the Teams’ Championship, and 40 points behind Mercedes.
Ferrari’s reaction
Shortly after the double disqualification Ferrari released the following statement to explain the errors.
“Following the FIA post-race scrutineering both our cars were found not to conform to the regulations for different reasons. Car 16 was found to be underweight by 1kg and [Hamilton’s car]’s rearward skid wear was found to be 0.5mm below the limit.
“Charles was on a one-stop strategy today and this meant his tyre wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight.
“With regard to Lewis’ skid wear, we misjudged the consumption by a small margin.
“There was no intention to gain any advantage. We will learn from what happened today and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again.
“Clearly it’s not the way we wanted to end our Chinese GP weekend, neither for ourselves, nor for our fans whose support for us is unwavering.”
