Multiple drivers have been disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix, including Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
They’d finished sixth and fifth respectively, but stewards disqualified Leclerc for his car being underweight and Hamilton for having excessive plank wear beneath his vehicle.
It’s a double disaster for Ferrari as stewards said: “The plank assembly of Car 44 (Lewis Hamilton) was measured and found to be 8.6mm (LHS), 8.6mm (car centerline) and 8.5mm (RHS).
“This is below the minimum thickness of 9mm specified under Article 3.5.9 of the Technical Regulations.
“During the hearing the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly. The team also acknowledged that there were no mitigating circumstances and that it was a genuine error by the team.”
Hamilton and Leclerc have both been disqualified (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Of Leclerc’s disqualification they said: “Car 16 (Charles Leclerc) was weighed by the FIA Technical Delegate inside and outside scales with both scales showing the same result of 799 kg after the customary draining of fuel and the replacement of a broken front wing.
“The calibration of both scales was confirmed and witnessed by the competitor. During the hearing there was no challenge to the FIA’s measurements which are taken to be correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly.
“There are no mitigating circumstances and that the team confirmed that it was a genuine error by them.
“The Stewards determine that Article 4.1 of the FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty of a disqualification needs to be applied for such an infringement.”
The double disqualification means that everyone else outside of the top four drivers will shift up a few places.
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Pierre Gasly (right) was also disqualified (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Alpine driver Pierre Gasly was also disqualified for an underweight car, and having finished in P11 that means the racers below him will be moving three places, while those above move up two.
It is a true catastrophe for the Ferrari drivers who will both miss out on points, while the team themselves will lose out on valuable points in the constructors standings too.
The new top 10 standings for the Chinese Grand Prix is as follows:
- Oscar Piastri, McLaren
- Lando Norris, McLaren
- George Russell, Mercedes
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull
- Esteban Ocon, Alpine (previously P7)
- Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes (Previously P8)
- Alex Albon, Williams (Previously P9)
- Oliver Bearman, Haas (Previously P10)
- Lance Stroll, Aston Martin (Previously P12)
- Carlos Sainz, Williams (Previously P13)
Last week at the Australian Grand Prix the result was changed after the chequered flag as Williams driver Alex Albon and Mercedes man Kimi Antonelli traded places when a five second penalty for Antonelli was overturned.
Albon had crossed the finish line after Antonelli but thought he’d secured P4 due to his opponent’s penalty, instead he later found himself dropped down to P5.
The next Formula 1 race is two weeks from now (6 April) in Japan.
Featured Image Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Topics: Sport, Formula 1, Lewis Hamilto
The first race of the new Formula One season has finished in Australia and it’s turned out to be a win for Lando Norris.
He held off four-time world champion Max Verstappen to finish first, while George Russell was the third man standing on the podium once the chequered flag had been waved.
Just a few seconds behind them was Williams driver Alex Albon, who crossed the finish line after Kimi Antonelli but scored fourth place as the Mercedes driver was hit with a five second penalty to knock him down to… oh no hang on a minute.
In bad news for Albon his fourth place finish at the Australian Grand Prix was undone after F1 announced that Antonelli’s five second penalty would be overturned.
Sorry Alex.
“Sorry mate, the penalty for the other guy has been appealed, you actually didn’t finish fourth.” (Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Earlier on in the race Antonelli was judged to have been released into Nico Hulkenberg’s path in the pit lane, resulting in the Mercedes driver being slapped with a five second penalty that landed him behind Albon in the final standings at the Australian Grand Prix.
Antonelli had started the race in P16 and fought to make it all the way to P4 before the penalty knocked him down a place in the final standings, but he and Albon have been switched back after it was reviewed and removed.
Mercedes petitioned for a ‘right of review’ for their man Antonelli and at a hearing they presented ‘video from the roll hoop camera which was previously unavailable’.
The new footage, along with a video taken from a helicopter that stewards hadn’t seen, led race officials to decide that Antonelli shouldn’t have had a penalty after all.
“It is clear that Car 12 did not cross into the fast lane until a significant distance down the pit lane and only after the driver checked his mirror to confirm clearance with Car 27,” the stewards said in their reasoning.
Antonelli (left) had been penalised for an unsafe release from the pit lane right into Nico Hulkenberg’s (right) path, but stewards withdrew the penalty after seeing new footage (Clive Rose/Getty Images)
“The roll hoop camera shows that he had sufficient room to safely pass the McLaren pits without risk to the McLaren mechanics.”
Being bumped back up into fourth place means that Antonelli picks up two extra points in the standings.
Since this is the first race of the season the standings are essentially a carbon copy of the race results, but the Australian Grand Prix really was Lando Norris’ to dominate as he picked up pole position and fastest lap along with the win.
McLaren and Mercedes teams are tied for the Constructor’s Championship after the first race on 27 points apiece, as Lando Norris won the race but his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri finished ninth.
Antonelli being bumped back up to fourth meant that he and third-placed George Russell also scored the same amount of points.
F1 returns next week for the Chinese Grand Prix.
Featured Image Credit: SAEED KHAN/AFP via Getty Images
An exchange between Lewis Hamilton and his new team at Ferrari during the Australian Grand Prix has been released.
Hamilton, a seven-time Formula One champion, raced in Ferrari colours for the first time after 12 years with Mercedes.
The Brit made his highly-anticipated debut at Albert Park in Melbourne, to huge expectations from fans.
Unfortunately, Hamilton finished in 10th place, while teammate Charles Leclerc finished two places ahead in eighth.
As for the podium, fellow Brit Lando Norris came out on top, ahead of world champion Max Verstappen and another Brit in George Russell in a dramatic race which saw a place change after the final result.
Hamilton’s performance seemingly got to him during the race too, as he voiced his frustrations to race engineer Riccardo Adami and his team over the radio.
The communication between the 40-year-old and his team made headlines alone, as Hamilton swore when he was told of his new position at a point in the race, which was ninth.
Following the conclusion of the race this morning, the transcript of the team’s exchanges have been released, and here is a snippet of one of Hamilton and Adami’s exchanges:
Hamilton: “Let me know where I am slow. Struggling with drive-ability. The car is snappy.”
Adami: “Turns 11 and 12… You can use K1 when you are close.”
Hamilton: “Leave me to it, please.”
Adami: “K1 available.”
Hamilton: “Yes, I know. Leave me to it, please.”
Lewis Hamilton did not seem too happy with his team during the race (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Later, the driver would say that he lost gear sync, even giving the engineer more advice, saying: “Please leave it… Just leave me to it with the DRS. It’s not an issue.”
That wasn’t the end, though.
Adami: “Try to hold the K1. Just for practice. I know it’s difficult.”
Hamilton: “I’m not close enough! I’m not close enough. When I’m close, I’ll do it.”
In more frosty words, Hamilton later said to his team: “I thought you said it wasn’t going to rain much? We just missed a big opportunity there,” to which Adami simply said: “Understood.”
During his post-race interview with Sky Sports, Hamilton claimed his car was ‘really hard to drive’, explaining that it went ‘a lot worse’ than he thought at first.
He added: “It was very tricky… It went a lot worse than I thought it would go, the car was really hard to drive today. I’m grateful I kept it out of the wall, that’s where it wanted to go most of the time.”
Hamilton was candid on the radio and in his interview (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Hamilton went on: “A lot to take [in], different power unit in the wet, different driving and setup on the steering wheel. And the guidance of how much more rain was coming… we missed out.
“The information I got was that it was a short shower, and real quick, and it was just the last corner. But then more came.”
Former F1 driver Karun Chandhok later said in an analysis on Sky Sports that both parties need to understand what kind of communication Hamilton wants, adding that ‘they need to find their feet’.
Featured Image Credit: X
Topics: Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1, Sport
Ferrari has made a vow to Lewis Hamilton in the wake of last weekend’s disastrous debut drive in the Australian Grand Prix.
Hamilton, who made the switch to Ferrari after 12 years with Mercedes, competed in his first race with his new team on Sunday (16 March), finishing in 10th place. e first race of the new Formula One season saw Lando Norris claim first on the podium, with Max Verstappen and George Russell in second and third respectively – while there was also a late change to fourth spot after a five second penalty for Kimi Antonelli was overturned.
Perhaps the main talking point from the race at Albert Park in Melbourne was Hamilton’s heated exchange with his new colleague, engineer Riccardo Adami, with the F1 legend seemingly frustrated with the drive-ability of the new car as well as the differing weather predictions.
Lewis Hamilton finished 10th in the Australian Grand Prix (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
After the race, the 40-year-old race car driver told Sky Sports: “It was very tricky… It went a lot worse than I thought it would go, the car was really hard to drive today. I’m grateful I kept it out of the wall, that’s where it wanted to go most of the time.
“A lot to take [in], different power unit in the wet, different driving and setup on the steering wheel. And the guidance of how much more rain was coming… we missed out.
“The information I got was that it was a short shower, and real quick, and it was just the last corner. But then more came.”
And Ferrari has now made a vow to the British driver after a rather disappointing start with the Italian racing team.
Fred Vasseur (Kym Illman/Getty Images)
Fred Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal, has said that major improvements will be made to the communication going forwards.
He said: “It’s the first race. The first time we have to communicate between the pit wall and the car. But we can do a better job, to know each other a bit better.
“It was not a great weekend for us. But let me focus on next week [China], that we’ll have to learn a lot from this weekend because we made mistakes.
“We need to improve the communication and to understand what Lewis is expecting from that communication. It’s only in these kinds of situations that we can learn and be much better next week.”
Hamilton’s new teammate, Charles Leclerc, finished ahead of him in eighth spot, in what was undoubtedly a tough start to the season for the Ferrari team.
The next race in the F1 season is the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai and will take place from 21 to 23 March, 2025.
Featured Image Credit: Clive Rose/Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1, Sport
Jeremy Clarkson isn’t ever too far away from Formula One chatter – especially when a new season kicks off.
And the 2025 F1 calendar is no different, with the former The Grand Tour presenter taking to social media to make a rather bespoke offer to the likes of Lewis Hamilton, race winner Lando Norris, and others after one particular incident that took place on the track during the opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday (16 March).
McLaren’s Norris beat defending champion Max Verstappen, driving for Red Bull, in a close finish with the Dutchman hot on the heels of the British driver looking to land his first F1 title. It puts Norris top of the leaderboard after one week, and is the first time in more than 1,000 days that Verstappen has not been at the top looking down.
Not a great end to Piastri’s race (Quinn Rooney – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
George Russell finished off the podium in a strong start with Mercedes, while Lewis Hamilton had a disappointing debut for Ferrari, coming in at 10th place.
Having got up to watch the race live, Clarkson took to social media to make a unique offer to every driver following antics from Norris’ McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri.
See, the problem for Piastri was that despite qualifying second on the grid behind Norris, the wet weather got the better of him.
Yep, he span out and ended up in the grass. And unable to get traction to go move forward and get back on to the track, it looked like race over for once second.
Oscar Piastri down at Diddly Squat Farm with Jeremy Clarkson and Kaleb Cooper (Instagram / jeremyclarkson1)
That was until he reversed slowly back on to the track after putting all the revs he had in to the backwards gear; a gear that is very rarely used by F1 drivers and only really there to satisfy regulations saying they must have a reverse gear.
Clarkson being Clarkson, he took the opportunity to blow smoke up his own rear end.
“F1 drivers: If you want to learn how to reverse off road, give me a call,” Clarkson took to X (formerly Twitter) to say.
“It certainly helped Oscar Piastri today.”
That’s because during the end of the 2024 season, he visited Diddly Squat Farm – the base of operations for all things Clarkson’s Farm – and took part in a reversing task with a tractor and trailer.
Piastri shows the evidence of his work down at Diddly Squat (Instagram / oscarpiastri)
On his reversing during the race, Piastri paid tribute to the ‘training’ he had with Clarkson and his team.
“I just was trying to stay in the race,” he said. “Tried to go forwards and couldn’t, so good thing I spent some time in the off-season trying to learn how to reverse a tractor on Jeremy Clarkson’s farm, I think it came in handy today.”
Piastri later took to his Instagram Stories to prove his efforts down at Diddly Squat, with him sat in the driver’s seat of said tractor and trailer slowly reversing it to where it needed to be.
So, could we really see the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen or Lando Norris down at Diddly Squat Farm some time soon?
We wouldn’t put it past them, given how big of a show Clarkson’s Farm is and how much former Top Gear man Jezza loves his cars and racing.
