Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly have been disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after breaches of the technical regulations were found post-race.
The disqualifications are a massive blow to Ferrari, after gaining 18 points from the grand prix. Leclerc and Hamilton initially finished fifth and sixth, respectively.
Hamilton’s disqualification is in relation to the rearmost skid wear, where the measurements came in “less than the 9mm thickness” dictated in Article 3.5.9 e) of the technical regulations.
That is the same element that led to the Briton being disqualified from the U.S. Grand Prix in 2023. Fresh off of his sprint race victory on Saturday, it is a disastrous end to his second grand prix with his new team.
Meanwhile Leclerc, who suffered front wing damage during the race, and Gasly were summoned by the stewards along with a team representative, for their cars being underweight.
Leclerc’s car weighed in at the minimum weight required by the regulations (800 kg) but considering the damage with the missing front wing endplate, the car was re-weighed with the official spare on the car.
That came in at 800.5 kg. But when the 2.0 litres of fuel was removed, the car’s weight came in at 799 kgs.
Gasly’s car was also found 1.0kg under the regulations’ minimum weight, after 1.1kg of fuel was removed.
Last season, George Russell was disqualified after initially winning the Belgian Grand Prix because his car was underweight.
This is a developing news story and will be updated below.
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Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly disqualified from Chinese Grand Prix