Peter Windsor couldn’t believe Ferrari’s ‘inexcusable’ reason for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s disqualification

Lewis Hamilton’s disappointing start to life at Ferrari continued as he was disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix.

The seven-time champion and teammate Charles Leclerc fell short of the regulations after a post-race inspection of their SF-25s. It came just a day after Hamilton won his first race for Ferrari in the Sprint race in Shanghai.

The duo had finished P5 and P6 in the Chinese Grand Prix but were both disqualified – the first time in Ferrari’s history – for different reasons. Leclerc’s car was underweight by 1kg, while Hamilton’s rearward skid was 0.5mm below the limit.

Damon Hill reacted to Ferrari’s disqualification, stating that ‘rules is rules.’ The Maranello outfit now sit with 17 points after two races, level on points with Williams and 61 behind McLaren.

Leclerc and Hamilton finished P8 and P10 in Melbourne after a gamble on dry tyres in the wet conditions did not pay off. Ferrari showed promising signs of pace in Shanghai with the latter’s Sprint win but were brought back down to reality with the double disqualification.

It marks Hamilton’s third DSQ in his F1 career and is one Ferrari admitted they ‘misjudged the consumption.’ But Peter Windsor was not impressed with their ‘inexcusable’ reason for Leclerc’s mishap.

Peter Windsor slams Ferrari’s ‘inexcusable’ one-stop strategy reason for Charles Leclerc’s disqualification in Shanghai

Ferrari claimed in a team statement after the race that Leclerc was on a one-stop strategy. As a result, tyre wear was high and subsequently caused his SF-25 to be underweight.

Windsor was not having any of it. Speaking on his YouTube channel, he slammed the reason for the mistake, stating that a car being underweight is ‘inexcusable’ and must be dealt with before the race.

“[Being] underweight is absolutely inexcusable in my book and there is no excuse,” he said.

“I can’t believe that they put out a statement saying: ‘Well, it’s because he ran a one-stop strategy and the hard tyre wore away more than we thought.’ I mean, give me a break!

“I believe in the total opposite of micro-management. There’s too many people with titles taking some sort of responsibility and this is when not having a superstar technical director in charge of the team saying yes or no is a problem.

“I said over the winter, I thought it was quite a good call by Freddie Vasseur to back away from trying to get Adrian [Newey] and it was interesting that he, Freddie, said he was going to take on some of that technical responsibility himself.

“Well I’m sorry Freddie, the buck stops absolutely with you on this one because not only you’re the team principal but you do have a technical influence.

“Those things are in your control, they’re things before you actually hit the ball, before you get in the race car. There are certain parameters that are in your total control. Get them right, there’s no excuse not to.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

Lewis Hamilton will not be happy about his start with Ferrari – and fans will let him know that

The Tifosi would have been expected more from Ferrari in the first two races of 2025. They left Melbourne with fewer points than Sauber.

Hamilton’s Sprint win in China will have lifted spirits, but his disqualification will have brought those crashing down. The 40-year-old sits ninth in the championship with nine points, one more than teammate Leclerc.

Ferrari admitted they have to run the 2025 car lower than its predecessor due to the change to the suspension. This is how they fell foul to the regulations, much to the anger of the fans.

Ferrari fans expect more from their drivers after the disqualification in China. Hamilton has taken a step forward from Melbourne to Shanghai and looks good to beat his teammate with the current trajectory.

But 17 points is not what the Tifosi would have wanted from the start of the season. Ferrari fans demanded the title from Hamilton in the winter – and that already looks unlikely to happen.