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F1 Chinese GP RESULT: Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc disqualified in huge Ferrari blow
Follow updates from the Shanghai International Circuit as Ferrari are punished post-race with both of their drivers missing out on points in a huge shock
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have both been disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix in a disastrous blow for Ferrari in the second race of the 2025 season.
The cars of both drivers failed post-race checks, with Hamilton’s skid block found to be below the minimum thickness, while Leclerc’s car was found to be underweight.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly has also been disqualified for an underweight car.
It means Hamilton and Leclerc’s points for their sixth and fifth place finish respectively – eight and 10 – are wiped from their championship tally.
Follow live updates of the Chinese Grand Prix with The Independent
Lewis Hamilton takes swipe at Max Verstappen over radio conduct:
“Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers...far worse,” Hamilton said, in his press conference ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.
“The conversation that Max has with an engineer [Lambiase] over the years, the abuse that the poor guy’s taken and you never write about it, but you wrote about the smallest little discussion I had with mine.”
QUALIFYING REPORT: Oscar Piastri takes title fight to Lando Norris with first F1 pole position at Chinese GP
Oscar Piastri raised the stakes in his championship battle with Lando Norris by securing the first pole position of his career at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Norris won last weekend’s opening round in Australia with Piastri only ninth after he slipped off the road in the rain when narrowly trailing his McLaren team-mate.
But at the second round of the season in Shanghai, Piastri pulled out all the stops to see off George Russell of Mercedes by just 0.082 seconds with Norris having to settle for third, more than a tenth adrift of the Australian.
Piastri takes title fight to Norris with first F1 pole position at Chinese GP
A simple message from Oscar Piastri after his pole lap:
Ollie Bearman after qualifying only 17th:
“It was a tough Sprint, we’re still missing a bit of pace. We made a good start and held position but after that it was just a case of trying to manage the tyres.
“I expected the fronts to drop off and they did a little bit more than some of the others. In qualifying we had planned three runs today in Q1, and we just didn’t quite make it out there for the last one.
“It’s tight to fit three runs in with all the turnaround and everything – unfortunately I just didn’t cross the line in time. We changed a few things on the car, my first lap was getting used to that, second one was better. I think the changes are more based towards the race so hopefully we can have a good one tomorrow.”
Charles Leclerc, who qualified P6:
“The potential was just not there, the overall grip was just not there.
“I felt I did a good job but that’s the potential of the car. We need to look forward to tomorrow, we had good pace this morning.”
Liam Lawson painfully honest after torrid start to Red Bull F1 career: ‘It’s just not good enough’
Liam Lawson did not make any excuses as he reflected on a torrid start to his Red Bull F1 career at the Chinese Grand Prix.
The Kiwi driver, promoted to be Max Verstappen’s teammate this year as he replaced Sergio Perez, crashed out of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in wet conditions last week
Yet this weekend in Shanghai has been even worse, so far. Lawson qualified dead last for the sprint race on Saturday – though moved up to finish 14th – but did not improve his one-lap pace in grand prix qualifying, finishing last once more.
Full quotes below:
Lawson painfully honest after torrid start to Red Bull F1 career: ‘Not good enough’
Yuki Tsunoda after qualifying P9:
“Two cars in the mix, teammate did a good job, did a massive mistake in the last lap - P9, I’ll take it.
“Both cars, there’s potential for points.”
Isack Hadjar after qualifying P7:
“It’s in the ball-park, really happy with what I have underneath.
“The big guys are out of reach on the long run, if I nail the start I’m in a good position to get my first points.
“P8 would be pretty satisfying.”
Kimi Antonelli after qualifying P8:
“A bit disappointed. I struggled with the tyres. I really struggled on the warm-up... but now we look forward to tomorrow.
“Top-6 is what we can achieve. The pace looks strong, we’ll see what we can do.”
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