Ferrari Promises To Learn From The First Double Disqualification In Team History

While Formula 1 intended to celebrate the past during its 75th anniversary season, the series delivered a never-before-seen moment in the world championship's history: a Ferrari double disqualification. The Italian team's red racing machines were excluded from the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai last Sunday after both failed post-race technical inspection. With hopes high after Lewis Hamilton's first-ever Ferrari victory in Saturday's sprint race, Ferrari disappointed once again.

Hamilton struggled to pull the same pace out of his Ferrari on Saturday and eventually decided to let his teammate Charles Leclerc pass him for fifth place. The Ferraris would cross the line in that order, however, the solid double points finish would amount to no points. Leclerc's car was found to be underweight by roughly 2.2 pounds, and Hamilton's car had excessive wear on its underfloor skid plank. In a release, Ferrari admitted fault and said:

"There was no intention to gain any advantage. We will learn from what happened today and make sure we don't make the same mistakes again. Clearly, it's not the way we wanted to end our Chinese GP weekend, neither for ourselves, nor for our fans whose support for us is unwavering."

This is the first disqualification for Ferrari since the 2023 United States Grand Prix, where Leclerc was disqualified for excessive plank wear. In the same race, Hamilton's Mercedes was also disqualified for the same reason. The plank of glass-reinforced plastic bolted to the car's underside is intended to act as a safety device. The stiff penalties tied to plank wear discourage teams from running their cars too low from the track surface and potentially bottoming out.

McLaren had a much different experience in Shanghai on Sunday. Oscar Piastri dominated the race, taking a victory from pole position, while his teammate Lando Norris finished second. With two races down, McLaren is in an uneasy position as front-runners. Hamilton's sprint win showed that the papaya-clad team can be beaten under the right circumstances, and the development race could remove that statement's qualifier in a few months. McLaren should squeeze every point out of this run of form before it vanishes.