LEWIS HAMILTON has been DISQUALIFIED from the Chinese Grand Prix to see his dream start to the weekend end in tatters.
Team-mate Charles Leclerc and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly have also been disqualified.
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Hamilton had won his maiden Ferrari race during the Sprint before he finished P6 after a frustrating feature race in Shanghai.
But he was then disqualified from the final classification after his Ferrari was found to be in breach of a strict F1 rule by just a tiny margin.
A statement released by the motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, said the thickness of the plank assembly on his car was found to be below the permitted minimum thickness following investigation.
Rules state is must be 9mm – but Hamilton’s vehicle was measured at 8.6mm.
This was a breach of Article 3.5.9 of the strict technical regulations, leading to him being disqualified from the race.
Plank, or skid block, thickness matters because it is deemed dangerous to drive if it falls below the minimum allowed wear of one millimetre.
A low plank can also give a driver a major performance advantage because the car is able to run lower to the ground than would normally be possible.
The statement said: “The plank assembly of Car 44 was measured and found to be 8.6mm (LHS), 8.6mm (car centerline) and 8.5mm (RHS). This is below the minimum thickness of 9mm…
“The Stewards determine that Article 3.5.9 of the FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty of a disqualification needs to be applied for such an infringement.”
The statement added Ferrari acknowledged there were no mitigating circumstances and it was a “genuine error” from them.
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Hamilton was one of three drivers to be disqualified from the race.
Ferrari team-mate Leclerc and Alpine’s Gasly were hit with disqualifications after falling below the minimum car weight limit of 800kg after the race.
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It means Hamilton and Leclerc’s points for their sixth and fifth place finish respectively – eight and 10 – are wiped from their championship tally.
The ruling meant Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman moved up two places each to P5 and P8 respectively, while there was a two-place improvement for Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Williams’ Alex Albon.
Chinese Grand Prix after disqualifications
After the triple disqualification of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly, here is the new top 10 standings:
1) Oscar Piastri, McLaren
2) Lando Norris, McLaren
3) George Russell, Mercedes
4) Max Verstappen, Red Bull
5) Esteban Ocon, Haas
6) Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
7) Alex Albon, Williams
8) Oliver Bearman, Haas
9) Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
10) Carlos Sainz, Williams
Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly had finished P11, so his disqualification saw Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Williams’ Carlos Sainz move up three spots and into the points.
Hamilton had snapped at engineer Riccardo Adami during the race after being asked to swap with Leclerc, who was showing better pace despite a damaged front wing.
He moved to the side but did not agree with where the team had directed him to perform the swap, saying: “I’ll tell you where we will swap.”
The Chinese Grand Prix was dominated by McLaren, with Oscar Piastri winning the third race of his career ahead of Lando Norris to give the team its 50th 1-2 finish in the sport.
