Ferrari legend ‘horrified’ by Hamilton, Leclerc DSQ as Ecclestone lifts lid on….read more
Luca di Montezemolo, the former chairman of Ferrari, was reportedly “horrified” by the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc during the Chinese Grand Prix, according to Bernie Ecclestone, the former F1 boss. Ecclestone described the double disqualification of Ferrari’s drivers as one of the biggest “disgraces” in the team’s history.
Hamilton and Leclerc had finished in fifth and sixth positions, respectively, at the Shanghai race. However, both were excluded from the official results for separate violations. Leclerc’s disqualification came after his car was found to be underweight by a small margin, falling just 1 kg short of the 800 kg minimum required weight after fuel was drained from the car. Hamilton, on the other hand, was disqualified due to excessive wear on the skid blocks of his SF-25 car.
This marked the second time in 18 months that Hamilton faced disqualification for excessive skid-block wear. His first was at the 2023 United States Grand Prix, where he had a similar penalty, marking his only other disqualification in F1, with his first occurring back in 2009 at the Australian Grand Prix due to misleading the FIA’s stewards when he was racing for McLaren.
Ecclestone shared these details after a recent encounter with di Montezemolo at an 80th birthday celebration for music legend Eric Clapton. According to Ecclestone, di Montezemolo was still deeply upset about Ferrari’s misfortunes in China. The former Ferrari chairman described the incident as “a disgrace” for Italy, a sentiment that reflected the shock and disappointment felt within the Ferrari camp following the disqualifications.
Leclerc’s exclusion from the race came down to his car’s weight, which was slightly below the mandated limit. Speculation arose that excessive tyre wear could have played a role in his disqualification, given that Leclerc had opted for a one-stop strategy during the race. A similar issue occurred for Mercedes’ George Russell at the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa last year, where tyre wear also contributed to a problem. Ecclestone suggested that Leclerc could have avoided this penalty by collecting additional “pickup,” or rubber debris, during his cooldown lap to increase the car’s weight. He also criticized the lack of a control center to properly check the cars after qualifying, pointing out that the underweight rule has been in place for decades and that Leclerc could have driven through mud or gravel to pick up stones, thus adding weight.
Despite the setbacks in China, Ferrari has been working hard to resolve the issues with their SF-25 car. Reports out of Italy indicate that Ferrari has made significant progress in understanding the performance of their car, particularly through simulator work. The team has tested over 20 different suspension configurations in the simulator, with hopes of improving the car’s performance at the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka. Ferrari is reportedly optimistic that the SF-25’s extreme sensitivity to ride-height changes has been identified as the main issue, with the team believing that the car’s true potential will be unlocked as they adjust the setup for the race in Japan.
Following the Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari found that their car was running too low to the ground, compromising its performance. As they work to fine-tune the SF-25, the team remains hopeful that the changes made in the simulator will help unlock more speed and performance in the upcoming races.
