Lewis Hamilton’s Chinese GP ended in disaster after the FIA disqualified both him and teammate Charles Leclerc from the race following an investigation which found technical irregularities in their cars.
In Hamilton‘s case, there was excessive skid wear on his SF-25, and upon measurement, it was found to be just 0.5 mm below the limit. Sky Sports’ Craig Slater put the small margin into perspective, describing it as even thinner than the width of an ID pass.
Craig Slater explains why Ferrari suffered a double DSQ from the Chinese GP after the race had finished pic.twitter.com/yo9XDyXXC1
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) March 23, 2025
However, the rule’s the rule. It may seem unfair, but as Slater said, “They have to draw the line somewhere.” That’s fair. But was Hamilton‘s car actually checked? Because in the list released by the FIA, the seven-time world champion’s name didn’t appear anywhere.
The document shared by the governing body of world motorsport revealed that the skid wear on cars 81, 04, 01, 30, 63, and 12 were checked. Number 44—Hamilton’s racing number which he has been using throughout his career—was not mentioned.
New document: Doc 86 – Race Scrutineering
Published on 23.03.25 12:51 CEThttps://t.co/VwoVO0QKsA#F1 #Formula1 #FIA pic.twitter.com/KIgogW5HHK— FIA F1 Documents Bot (@fiadocsbot) March 23, 2025
There was an uproar in the F1 community after this knowledge became public on Monday. Many took to X (formerly Twitter) to showcase their anger and call for clarity from the FIA.
“The FIA are as incompetent as ever,” a fan wrote. “Hamilton was disqualified for skid block wear, yet the scrutineering document says that he wasn’t one of the cars checked for skid block wear.”
This is a bit weird. Hamilton was disaqualified for skid block wear, yet the scrutineering document says that he wasn’t one of the cars checked for skid block wear. ♂️
The @fia are as incompetent as ever… #F1 #ChineseGP https://t.co/hweY4N57Xp
— Rob Myers (@RobLMyers) March 23, 2025
Hamilton’s name did appear in the four-page document, but as one fan pointed out, it was only on page 4—where it was revealed that he was disqualified for excessive skid wear—despite no mention of his name or car on page 3.
Page 3 states the cars checked for skid wear (Lewis’ car is not listed)
Page 4 states Lewis DSQ for excess skid wear (same wording “skid wear”)
If car 44 wasn’t measured by scrutineering how was it measured and by whom to then receive a DSQ?
Genuine question#F1 #TeamLH #LH44 https://t.co/ltnv6oQ0Ke
— Scott Elliott (@ScottElliott10) March 23, 2025
The FIA did admit that Hamilton’s car was checked on Sunday after the race. It was through that shared document that fans first learned about his disqualification. Therefore, the omission of the Ferrari driver’s name in the recent mention could have simply been a mistake—or perhaps there was an error associated with his disqualification from the start.
For Ferrari, the aftermath of the Chinese GP was a huge blow. Leclerc was disqualified because his car was 1 kg underweight—a mistake the Italian team owned up to.
As a result, the 22 points they had earned during the race turned to zero, dropping them to P5 in the standings behind Williams. It’s still early days, but for a team chasing the title, falling this far behind and playing catch-up makes the rest of the season extremely difficult.
