Written by Meghana Sree
Ferrari swings from Sprint pole and victory to a disappointing qualifying and double disqualification on Sunday.
Charles Leclerc loses his fifth-place finish after his car was found weighing exactly 799kg, 1kg below the minimum requirement.
As for his teammate, the rear skid on Lewis Hamilton's car was identified as below the required thickness, resulting in his loss of sixth place. A document published by the FIA reads: "The plank assembly of Car 44 was measured and found to be 8.6mm (LHS), 8.6mm (car centerline) and 8.5mm (RHS). This is below the minimum thickness of 9mm specified under Article 3.5.9 of the Technical Regulations.
"During the hearing the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly. The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team."
11th-place finisher Pierre Gasly is also among the cars disqualified for being below the minimum weight. Gasly faced a similar situation to Leclerc, with his car weighing 799kg after the fuel draining procedure.
This update rounds out a terrible Sunday for Ferrari. The opening laps of the Chinese Grand Prix saw contact between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, which snapped the endplate off from Leclerc’s front wing, compromising the car’s downforce.
Despite the damage, Leclerc managed to pump out competitive lap times and elected to continue the race without changing the front-wing. However, post-race this was not the best decision as a disqualification was inevitable.
Leclerc and Hamilton's disqualifications now result in Esteban Ocon, Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman being promoted by two positions, while Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz sneak into the points after Gasly drops down. This marks Sainz's first point for his new Williams outfit, giving the team a double points finish.
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