Ferrari's Hamilton, Leclerc DQ'd from Chinese GP

Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton was one of three drivers disqualified from Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, the FIA announced following the race.

Hamilton's Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc and Alpine's Pierre Gasly were also disqualified.

Hamilton, who secured his first victory with Ferrari in Friday's sprint race at Shanghai, finished sixth in Sunday's main race. However, the stewards found during a post-race inspection that the rear skid block on Hamilton's car was below the minimum thickness.

"The plank assembly of Car 44 was measured and found to be 8.6 mm (LHS), 8.6 mm (car centerline), and 8.5mm (RHS)," FIA stewards wrote, according to Formula1.com. "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."

The disqualification isn't Hamilton's first for skid blocks, losing his second-place finish in the 2023 United States Grand Prix due to this issue.

Leclerc was disqualified after stewards found his car to be underweight. The ruling meant Leclerc forfeited a fifth-place finish and 10 points.

Leclerc and Hamilton are the first Ferrari teammates to be DQ'd from the same race, according to theScore's Daniel Valente.

"Charles was on a one-stop strategy today, and this meant his tire wear was very high, causing the car to be underweight. With regard to Lewis' skid wear, we misjudged the consumption by a small margin," Ferrari said. "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."

Gasly, who finished 11th, was also disqualified for his car being underweight.

The rulings bumped Esteban Ocon up to fifth place, while Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz moved into the top 10. Sainz earned a single point with his 10th-place result, his first point with Williams.