Ferrari loses all its points in China due to disqualification

The Maranello squad endured a forgettable day at the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were disqualified following post-race technical inspections, leaving Ferrari without any points in Shanghai. Pierre Gasly of Alpine was also excluded from the results due to similar infractions.

Minimum weight issues affect Leclerc and Gasly

Technical inspections conducted by the FIA after the race at the Shanghai International Circuit revealed that both Leclerc's Ferrari and Gasly's Alpine weighed 799 kg, one kilogram below the minimum limit set by Article 4.1 of the Technical Regulations.

In Leclerc's case, who had finished fifth, his car initially registered 800 kg during weighing. However, after replacing his damaged front wing with an official spare part during the weighing process and extracting two liters of fuel according to the drainage procedure presented by Ferrari, the weight dropped to 799 kg.

Jo Bauer, the FIA's technical delegate, detailed in his report: "The car was weighed again on the FIA scales (with the official spare front wing assembly of car 16) and the weight was 799.0 kg. The calibration of the scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor. For reference, the spare front wing weighed 0.2 kg more than the damaged one used during the race."

A nearly identical situation affected Gasly, whose Alpine also initially weighed 800 kg, but after extracting 1.1 kg of fuel according to the drainage procedure presented by his team, the final weight was 799 kg.

Excessive wear on Hamilton's skid block

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, who had finished sixth, was disqualified for a different reason. The FIA found that the rear skid block on his Ferrari showed excessive wear, with a thickness of between 8.5 and 8.6 mm at various measurement points, below the regulatory minimum of 9 mm as stipulated in Article 3.5.9 of the Technical Regulations.

"The rear skid block was measured in accordance with the team's legality documentation as per TD039 L, item 1.2 b) i). Measurements were taken along the stiffness compliance area at three different points on the periphery (inner arc). The recorded measurements were 8.6 mm (left side), 8.6 mm (centerline of the car), and 8.5 mm (right side)," stated the technical report.

Teams accept responsibility

During separate hearings with the stewards, both Ferrari and Alpine acknowledged the technical errors without attempting to justify them. According to the official reports: "The team representative confirmed that the measurement was correct and that all required procedures were carried out correctly. The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine team error."

This situation represents a significant blow for Ferrari, which had secured fifth and sixth places with Leclerc and Hamilton, respectively, while Gasly had already finished outside the points in eleventh place.

Restructuring of the final classification

Following the three disqualifications, the final classification of the Chinese Grand Prix was significantly altered. Esteban Ocon moves up to fifth place with Haas, while Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon, and Ollie Bearman also improve their positions. Lance Stroll of Aston Martin and Carlos Sainz of Williams now enter the points by moving into the top 10.

Final results after disqualifications

Below is the official classification after the disqualifications:

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:30:55.026
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	+9.748s
3	George Russell	Mercedes	+11.097s
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+16.656s
5	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+49.969s
6	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+53.748s
7	Alex Albon	Williams	+56.321s
8	Oliver Bearman	Haas	+61.303s
9	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+70.204s
10	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Williams	+76.387s
11	Isack Hadjar	RB	+78.875s
12	Liam Lawson	Red Bull	+81.147s
13	Jack Doohan	Alpine	+88.401s
14	Gabriel Bortoleto	Kick Sauber	+1 lap
15	Nico Hulkenberg	Kick Sauber	+1 lap
16	Yuki Tsunoda	RB	+1 lap
17	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	DNF
18	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	DNF
19	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	DNF
20	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	DNF