Ferrari legend ‘horrified’ by Hamilton, Leclerc DSQ as Ecclestone lifts lid on biggest ‘disgrace’

The disqualification of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc at the Chinese Grand Prix left Luca di Montezemolo, who had previously served as the chairman of Ferrari, “horrified.”

This is the assertion made by Bernie Ecclestone, a former supremo of Formula One racing, who has referred to Ferrari’s double blow in Shanghai as the worst “disgrace” in the history of the team.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both finished fifth and sixth, respectively, at the Chinese Grand Prix that took place a month ago. However, both Leclerc and Hamilton were disqualified from the official classification for different offences. The former Ferrari CEO was “horrified” by both of them.

Despite the fact that Leclerc’s vehicle was judged to be underweight, Hamilton was disqualified because the skid blocks on his SF-25 had seen unnecessary wear and tear.

It was the second occasion in the past 18 months that the seven-time World Champion had been disqualified for excessive skid-block wear. He had previously experienced the same fate in his penultimate season with Mercedes, which took place at the United States Grand Prix in 2023. The only time that Hamilton was ever disqualified was at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. At the time, he was driving for McLaren, and he was penalised for misleading the stewards of the motorsports organisation.

At the 80th birthday party of music great Eric Clapton, which took place over the weekend, Ecclestone and Di Montezemolo were reunited with one another.

A week after the Chinese Grand Prix, he disclosed that the former chairman of Ferrari was still reeling from the fact that Hamilton and Leclerc were disqualified from the race. The Swiss-German tabloid Blick reported that Ecclestone had a conversation with the former Ferrari CEO Luca di Montezemolo at that location.

“The two disqualifications that Ferrari received in China left him in utter disbelief. Since the beginning of the World Championship, Italy had never previously been subjected to such a humiliating situation!

Following the conclusion of the Chinese Grand Prix, it was discovered that Leclerc’s vehicle was only slightly below the minimum weight limit. It was found to be just one kilogramme short of the 800 kilogramme threshold after fuel was removed from his vehicle.

Due to the fact that Leclerc was utilising a one-stop strategy in Shanghai, it has been hypothesised that excessive tyre wear may have been a contributing factor in his disqualification. This is similar to the situation that Mercedes driver George Russell encountered during the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa in the previous year.

While Leclerc was on the cooldown lap, Ecclestone believes that he could have easily avoided a disqualification if he had made a greater effort to gather what is generally known as “pickup,” which refers to abandoned pieces of tyre rubber that were left behind after the racing line. This would have increased the weight of his vehicle.

He continued by saying, “It was abundantly clear that there was no control centre to check the cars after qualifying.”

The concept of being underweight has been the subject of a rule that has been around for decades.

Once you have crossed the finish line, you will need to drive through the muck and gather as many stones as you can using the tyres that are equipped with gravel.

Formula One head-to-head scores for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc Ecclestone’s comments came after a source in Italy indicated that Ferrari have made a breakthrough in their understanding of the SF-25 by putting in a significant amount of effort in the simulator since the Chinese Grand Prix.

It is believed that the team has tested twenty various suspension configurations in the simulator. Ferrari is expected to run a different combination of front and rear tweaks in Japan compared to the first two races of the season since the beginning of the season.

It is believed that Ferrari is certain that their design concept for the year 2025 does not include any fundamental problems, with the exception of the SF-25’s extraordinary sensitivity to changes in ride height. The team is hopeful that the genuine pace of the car will be revealed at Suzuka this coming weekend.

Following the first race of the season in Australia, it became public knowledge that Ferrari was compelled to compete in a compromised state in Melbourne. This was due to the fact that they discovered that the car was too near to the ground during Friday’s practice session. Year 2025