FLASH
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The Chinese Grand Prix was a day to forget for Ferrari, which suffered a double disqualification. An incredible fact for a top-level team. Leclerc and Hamilton lost the fifth and sixth places they had fought for in Shanghai, finishing outside the podium for the second time in a row. The FIA technical delegates have in fact opened two separate investigations after finding, during routine checks, values outside the norm.
Charles' car was not up to standard in terms of weight, Lewis' car was not up to standard in terms of floor covering. The decision came quickly and included the standard penalty in these cases: exclusion from the Grand Prix standings. In addition to the Ferrari drivers, Pierre Gasly (Alpine) was also disqualified for not respecting the minimum weight.
Leclerc's car underweight, team mistake
Leclerc's car was found to be non-compliant: when tested on the scales it weighed 799kg (the same measurement as Gasly), one kilogram below the minimum allowed. This is a significant change in F1 where values are calculated precisely to the gram. Mistakes like this are quite rare and are often made by smaller teams. The number 16 car had been drained of fuel as per procedure and had a new front wing fitted to replace the one damaged at the start in the contact between Leclerc and Hamilton. The instruments have been calibrated and the result has been found to be non-compliant with the technical code. Ferrari themselves admitted it was an error in their judgement and will not appeal.
For Hamilton it is a fundamental question
A different offence for Lewis Hamilton, but punished with the same sanction as his teammate. And this is perhaps the most worrying, because it concerns the ground clearance of the single-seater, an issue that was already causing fear in Melbourne. The checks carried out by the group of federal technicians led by Jo Bauer revealed that the floor that protects the bottom (in technical jargon it is called the board) was too thin compared to the permitted limit. The measurement is made at three points. In all three cases the values were not correct: 8.6 mm on the left, 8.5 in the center and 8.5 on the right when the board must be at least 9 mm thick. Here too, Ferrari admitted that it had made a mistake in good faith.
Hamilton revealed a detail after the race: "After the Sprint Race we tried something new on the car, but we made it worse. It's a path we'll never take again." Also because it leads to disqualification.
Ferrari's explanation
Ferrari then tried to explain how it ended up in this situation. In Leclerc's case, the one-stop strategy would have had an impact and the high tire consumption would have caused a loss of weight for the car. It would be a similar case to that of the Belgian GP with Russell, when the English Mercedes driver was stripped of the victory. The Chinese track is not Spa, however, the re-entry lap is done normally and it is easy to use the technique called "pick up rubber" which allows drivers to collect small pieces of rubber left on the track to weight the car and avoid risks when tested by the FIA scales. Furthermore, the Shanghai GP did not highlight any particular critical issues in terms of tire management or wear. From the red box they reiterate that there was no intention "to take advantage". As for Hamilton, the engineers underestimated the tablet's consumption by a "slight margin". "We will learn from our mistakes to ensure they never happen again," Ferrari said in a statement.
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