Ferrari experienced an unprecedented blow after the chequered flaf at the Chinese Grand Prix, with both cars disqualified post-race due to technical infringements – a first in the team’s storied Formula 1 history.
While the team took full responsibility for Lewis Hamilton’s exclusion, which stemmed from running the car too low and wearing down the plank, the situation with Charles Leclerc’s car raised different concerns. In Ferrari’s official statement, they attributed Leclerc’s underweight car to excessive tyre degradation caused by committing to a one-stop strategy.
“Charles was on a one-stop strategy today and this meant his tyre wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight,” the team explained.
This echoes circumstances seen in past races, particularly when George Russell was stripped of a win at last year’s Belgian Grand Prix. His Mercedes was found 1.5kg under the weight limit after running an unexpected one-stop race.
Initially, high tyre wear was suspected, compounded by the lack of a cool-down lap at Spa – which often helps cars gather rubber debris to boost weight. Ultimately, Mercedes found several factors contributed, including the worn plank and Russell’s own body weight.
Disqualification
Leclerc’s car was found to be one kilogram under the required minimum weight of 800kg (driver included, without fuel) after the race. Interestingly, this limit was bumped up from 798kg the previous year, in part to reflect a higher mandated minimum driver weight.
According to FIA documentation, Leclerc’s car initially hit 800kg when weighed after the race with a replacement front wing (used due to damage during the race). This spare component was 200g heavier than the one it replaced. After fuel was drained – specifically two litres – the car was reweighed at 799kg, triggering the disqualification.
Pierre Gasly of Alpine experienced a nearly identical outcome. His car weighed 800kg initially, but after 1.1kg of fuel was removed, it also ended up at 799kg.
Ferrari’s claim that Leclerc’s car dipped underweight due to tyre wear is plausible on the surface. Teams routinely factor tyre mass loss into race-day weight calculations. Still, tyre wear typically maxes out around one kilogram in terms of mass loss – the exact amount Leclerc’s car was under. Given that teams are aware of this estimate, it’s unusual for them to be caught out unless wear levels far exceed projections.
Pirelli’s motorsport director Mario Isola noted last year:
“Each track is different, each situation is different, and the wear is not linear. It depends how much you push, and it depends if your balance is perfect, because then you would wear all four tyres.”
At Shanghai, most teams planned for two-stop strategies. However, improved track conditions and a strong performance from the revised C2 hard tyre made the one-stop a more viable – and tempting – option. That second stint ended up being longer than teams had planned for.
Image licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
What made matters more unpredictable was the introduction of a newly revised C2 compound. Though teams had tested it during pre-season in Bahrain, China was its first outing in race conditions.
As Isola explained to The Race on Sunday evening:
“When evaluating C2 behaviour, one should bear in mind that it is the compound that has undergone the biggest changes of any in the 2025 range and therefore was something of an unknown quantity for all the teams.”
Still, even with that unpredictability, it’s difficult to believe tyre wear alone caused the entire deficit. Leclerc’s stint wasn’t uniquely long compared to other drivers like Verstappen or Russell, and the tyres had been used in Saturday’s sprint race, giving teams some baseline data on degradation.
Moreover, the presence of a cooldown lap in China allowed drivers to collect rubber marbles, a common tactic to increase weight before the post-race weigh-in.
Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, has been open about the fine line teams walk when chasing performance:
“We have to be at the limit on every single item of the car,” he said. “We have to be aggressive. And it’s a challenge to be at the limit of the weight, to be at the limit of the plank, to be at the limit of the cooling, to be at the limit of the fuel.”
Ferrari’s aggressive setup gamble may have backfired in China, but it’s emblematic of the high-stakes environment modern F1 teams operate in. The final word on Leclerc’s disqualification will likely come once Pirelli completes its forensic analysis of his tyres back in Milan.
