Charles Leclerc has urged his Ferrari team to “reset” and “turn the situation around in Japan” after a gutting double disqualification.

While Ferrari were unable to re-hit the heights of their Sprint performance in China, it appeared that the Scuderia were still going to leave Shanghai on Sunday with a double points finish secured. Instead, they got a double result which no F1 team wants.

Ferrari double DQ: ‘Reset’ in time for Japanese GP?

Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton was on fine form to start the Chinese GP race weekend, taking pole for the first Sprint of F1 2025 and going on to lead every lap on his way to victory.

But, set-up changes failed to carry the momentum on into qualifying and the race, with P5 for Leclerc and P6 for Hamilton the best the Ferrari duo could manage at the chequered flag.

However, the situation worsened post-race when both Ferrari drivers – along with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly – were disqualified from the results, after Leclerc’s Ferrari was found to be 1kg under the minimum weight, while the plank wear on Hamilton’s SF-25 was 0.5mm below the limit.

But, with the first free weekend of F1 2025 approaching before a return to action in Japan, Leclerc took to social media to deliver a rallying cry to his Ferrari team.

“Last weekend was really tough,” he began.

“We’ve got to reset and work hard to turn the situation around in Japan and I’m sure we will.

“A big thank you though to the amount of support you gave me during the weekend, it always surprises me to have such support in China and it means a lot.”

Latest F1 2025 head-to-head standings after Chinese GP

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Leclerc’s comments come after Ferrari issued a statement to address their double disqualification punishment at the Chinese Grand Prix.

“Following the FIA post-race scrutineering both our cars were found not to conform to the regulations for different reasons,” the statement begins.

“Car 16 [Leclerc] was found to be underweight by 1 kg and car 44’s [Hamilton’s] rearward skid wear was found to be 0.5mm below the limit.

“Charles was on a one-stop strategy today and this meant his tyre wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight.

“With regard to Lewis’ skid wear, we misjudged the consumption by a small margin.

“There was no intention to gain any advantage. We will learn from what happened today and make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again.

“Clearly it’s not the way we wanted to end our Chinese GP weekend, neither for ourselves, nor for our fans whose support for us is unwavering.”

It means Ferrari sit P5 in the early Constructors’ standings, already 61 points behind leaders and defending champions McLaren.

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