Ferrari boss comments on long term impact of Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc's China DQ cause

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified from the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix as the seven-time champion's Ferrari had excessive plank wear, whereas the Monegasque's Ferrari was underweight by 1 kg. Hamilton's disqualification and issues from the Chinese GP had an impact on Ferrari's season, and the same was detailed by Fred Vasseur.

Hamilton's SF25’s plank wear was beyond what was approved by the FIA regulations, meaning the car ran too low. As a result, Ferrari had to closely monitor the ride height of the car, and even run the SF25 a few millimeters higher in the races that followed, just to avoid the risk of another disqualification.

However, raising the ride height means losing downforce while also compromising the setup of the car. With the ground effect crucial to the current generation of F1 cars, Ferrari lost out massively to its competitors, whereas Lewis Hamilton's struggles got worse.

Lewis Hamilton - F1 Grand Prix Of Hungary - Source: Getty

Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur came out and detailed the impact of the disqualification at the Chinese GP, as well as the plank wear worries, which led to a decline in performance for the Maranello-based team. The Frenchman said,

“Being focused on ourselves, we lost a little bit the ground with the disqualification at the beginning. We had to take a margin. And the sensitivity of the ride height on these cars, it's huge. Each millimeter is one position on the grid. So it means that if you start to have to be safe because you are not in full control, then it's impacting massively the performance.” (via The Race)

Vasseur also revealed how the issue was always in the back of the drivers' and engineers' mind, which impacted the other aspects of racing, as he added,

“It's always a combination, because when you spend more time to deal with this, you are a bit less focused on the out-lap, on the tyre preparation, on whatever. At the end of the day, you are paying the bill.”

Ferrari brought a new upgrade at the Belgian GP to counter the ride height problem, but the issue still persists on the SF25.

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Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc's struggles with Ferrari's Belgian GP upgrade

Ferrari tested the new rear suspension, believed to get rid of the ride height issues at the Mugello circuit ahead of the Belgian GP. However, Lewis Hamilton struggled massively at Spa Francorchamps, spinning around in SQ1 and then getting eliminated in Q1.

The Hungarian GP was a similar story, where Hamilton failed to make it into Q3 and finished the race outside the points. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, took pole position at Budapest and was leading the race for the first stint. However, his pace dropped by over two seconds after the second stop.

George Russell, who was following Leclerc at the Hungarian GP, came out after the race and suspected that Ferrari had increased the tire pressure for the final stint to prevent the plank from wearing out, which led to the Monegasque's struggles.