Ferrari’s Chinese Grand Prix could not have gone any worse if they tried after both their drivers collided in the opening laps and would face disqualification post-race for technical infringements.
Charles Leclerc finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton in P5 and P6 respectively, but they would later be disqualified for two separate technical breaches.
Post-race Hamilton’s car was found to have excessive skid-block wear under the 9mm minimum by around 0.5mm, while Leclerc’s car was under the minimum 800kg weight limit by 1kg when the fuel was drained and a spare front wing of the same specification used in the race was fitted.
It came after a race in which both drivers struggled, with Hamilton failing to replicate his race-winning pace from the Sprint in the Grand Prix.
Hamilton could be heard bickering with his engineer over team orders, however, unbroadcast messages show it was the Briton who instigated Ferrari’s decision to swap both cars.
Lewis Hamilton tells Ferrari Charles Leclerc can overtake in unheard Chinese GP team radio
Leclerc had to have the spare front wing fitted following damage he picked up in the first two corners of the race when he made contact with Hamilton at the apex of Turn 2.
It was a racing incident between the pair, although the damage appeared to improve Leclerc’s performance according to engineers from rival teams.
Hamilton was initially given some respite from Leclerc by an early pit stop, but the Monogasque quickly caught up to him with the help of some traffic on Lap 13. His engineer, Bryan Bozzi told him to keep up the pace but Leclerc could see he was starting to lose time.
This prompted the first message from Hamilton 16 laps into the race to his engineer Riccardo Adami, which was not broadcast on the world feed.
| Lap | Driver | Engineer |
| 13 | Bozzi: “These laps are good.” | |
| Leclerc: “I’m actually losing a bit of time no?” | ||
| 16 | Hamilton: “I think I’m going to let Charles go, because I’m struggling.” |
Ferrari issues team orders for Lewis Hamilton which are initially ignored
Hamilton caught up to Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and passed him into Turn 14, while Leclerc stayed behind and nearly fell out of his teammate’s DRS range.
This is why the pass didn’t happen immediately, with Hamilton commenting that he wanted Leclerc to get closer so they were not both losing time.
| Lap | Driver | Engineer |
| 20 | Bozzi: “Lewis will let you by. We will swap the cars into Turn 13/14” | |
| Leclerc: “Are we or are we not?” | ||
| Adami: “We are going to swap the cars into Turn 14.” | ||
| Hamilton: “When he’s closer.” | ||
| 21 | Hamilton: “If we can’t get the guys ahead he can pass.” | |
| Adami: “Ok, understood.” | ||
| Adami: “We want to swap this lap now…” | ||
| Hamilton: “I’ll say when we can swap.” | ||
| 22 | Leclerc: “This is a shame. The pace is there.” | |
| Bozzi: “Well done, I’m sorry about that. Keep pushing.” |
Hamilton would be told again that they were going to swap cars at Turn 14, but he initially did not react after seeing he was catching the Mercedes of George Russell.
After it was clear he would struggle to progress, he let Leclerc pass at Turn 2, although Leclerc felt it was too late despite catching up to Russell later in the stint.
Ferrari pitted Hamilton for a second time, making him the only driver in the top ten to do a two-stop while everyone else around him converted a one-stop once they saw the times from Stroll and how well the hard tyre was holding up.
It would all be in vain, however, with the disqualification leading to them giving up 18 points and promoting Stroll and Alex Albon into the points.
