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Exploring the Factors Behind Lewis Hamilton’s Disqualification: Was Late-Race Charge to Blame?

Carl Harrison by Carl Harrison
March 25, 2025
in Motorsports
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Ferrari Challenges: Lewis Hamilton’s Confession on Difficult Drive Post-Qualifying for 2025 Chinese GP

Formula One F1 - Chinese Grand Prix - Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China - March 22, 2025 Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton is interviewed after qualifying in fifth position REUTERS/Go Nakamura

Esteemed Formula 1 analyst Martin Brundle has raised intriguing questions regarding the factors behind Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification in the aftermath of the Chinese Grand Prix. In a dramatic turn of events, Hamilton was stripped of his sixth-place finish at the Shanghai International Circuit due to an unexpected technical error.

The issue at hand was the excessive wear on Hamilton’s Ferrari SF-25’s underfloor plank, which was found to breach the permitted wear levels. The technical inspection revealed that the plank assembly of Car 44 measured 8.6mm on the left side, 8.6mm in the center, and 8.5mm on the right, falling short of the minimum thickness of 9mm as stated in Article 3.5.9 of the Technical Regulations.

The team representative confirmed the accuracy of the measurement during a hearing, acknowledging the absence of any mitigating circumstances. The representative also admitted that the error was genuine and that all procedures had been executed correctly.

Brundle, however, has proposed an alternative perspective on the matter, suggesting that Hamilton’s aggressive driving in the latter part of the race may have accelerated the wear of the skid block. Hamilton, who was running fourth and fifth ahead of Max Verstappen, chose a two-stop strategy, returning to the track on fresher tyres. This placed him behind Verstappen, whom he then pursued doggedly, but was unable to catch the Red Bull driver who overtook Leclerc for fourth place.

In his post-race column for Sky Sports, Brundle elucidated his theory, stating, “Hamilton was pitted as there was nothing much to lose except putting him behind Verstappen but on much better tyres. Lewis would then push hard to the end of the race, a factor which may well have contributed to his eventual disqualification.”

Brundle continued to explain, “Hamilton’s car was thrown out for running too close to the ground and overly wearing away the legality skid block underneath by half a millimetre. This rule is in place to stop teams running these ground-effect aero cars too low to gain performance but then trashing super expensive floors every day.”

However, Hamilton wasn’t the sole Ferrari driver to face disqualification. Charles Leclerc was also penalized, along with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Both drivers were disqualified due to their vehicles being marginally underweight.

Brundle drew parallels between this incident and a similar occurrence involving George Russell at Spa last year. He elaborated, “A long run on one set of tyres uses up a few kilos of tyre tread. Also, the race pace was strong and there were no Safety Cars, and so fuel usage was high, consuming more mass.”

Despite Leclerc being permitted to replace his broken front wing, his vehicle was still found to be underweight. Brundle concluded, “It was a miscalculation by the team to not leave enough margin for all circumstances.”

Reflecting on the fallout of these disqualifications, Brundle forecasts a difficult week for Ferrari, especially under the scrutiny of the Italian media. This incident, he predicts, will result in “painful reading for Ferrari this week despite the Sprint victory.”

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