Lewis Hamilton has 358 races in his Formula 1 career and while he has won 105 of those, not all of them have gone to plan.
The seven-time world champion has been the subject of misfortune in his career on three separate occasions when he was disqualified from a race.
Disqualification is usually done through a breach of the technical regulations, but Hamilton has also fallen foul of the sporting regulations in his career. This is every time Hamilton has been disqualified from an F1 race in his career.
2009 Australian Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton disqualified for lying to the stewards
Hamilton was disqualified for the first time in his F1 career after a scandal erupted in the aftermath of the Australian Grand Prix, in which he was told to lie to FIA stewards by his McLaren team to earn a rival a penalty.
Toyota’s Jarno Trulli had ran off track under a Safety Car period in the closing stages of the race, prompting Hamilton to pass him as he rejoined. After Hamilton clarified with his team whether he could overtake, his engineer initially told to hold position before instructing him to let Trulli back past.
Trulli was investigated after the race and the stewards deemed he overtook under Safety Car, earning him a 25-second time penalty. Hamilton had told media that he was instructed to let Trulli past, but behind closed doors he told the stewards that he received no instruction.
Despite an appeal being rejected from Toyota, the case was reopened at the following race in Malaysia when new evidence came to light in the form of the team radio transcript. The stewards decided that Hamilton had misled them and disqualified him and McLaren from the race, with Trulli being reinstated to third place.
McLaren would later be handed a suspended three-race ban by the FIA and their sporting director, Dave Ryan, was sacked by the team in the wake of the incident.
2023 US Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton disqualified for technical infringement
Hamilton would wait 14 years before he was disqualified again from a race at the 2023 US Grand Prix, although this time it was for a breach of the technical regulations.
The seven-time world champion finished second in the race after chasing down Max Verstappen for the win, but post-race the car was found to have excessive plank wear.
The minimum thickness is 9mm, with teams given a grace of 1mm once they are in parc ferme, and Hamilton’s Mercedes was found to be under that threshold.
As it was a technical breach, it resulted in instant disqualification. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also fell foul of the rule, which both teams put down to the bumpy surface at the Circuit of the Americas leading to substantial plank wear.
This was also not helped by the fact that it was a Sprint weekend, which means teams were given less time to optimise the setup of thier cars.
2025 Chinese Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton disqualified for excessive skid wear
Much like the US Grand Prix, Hamilton fell foul of the same rule during this year’s Chinese Grand Prix.
Following the race, the FIA technical delegate observed that the left-hand side and car centerline were down to 8.6mm, and right-hand side skids were worn down to 8.5mm on Hamilton’s Ferrari.
As it is below the minimum thickness of 9mm, it was a breach of the technical regulations and led to a disqualification.
Ferrari stated after the race, claiming they “misjudged consumption by a small margin” and had “no intention to gain any advantage” from the mistake.
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