The 2025 Chinese Grand Prix was a chaotic affair for Ferrari, yet in many ways, it was exactly the kind of weekend both the ‘tifosi’ and casual F1 fans alike have come to expect from the Scuderia. Shanghai highlighted the operational issues that continue to plague the team, holding them back from true title contention: erratic driver performances, questionable strategy calls, and ultimately, the disqualification of both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc due to technical infringements by the team. Here’s a breakdown of Scuderia Ferrari’s tumultuous 2025 Chinese Grand Prix weekend:

A Stellar Sprint

In typical Ferrari fashion, the weekend had its share of highs that showcased the performance potential of the storied team when operating at their peak. Chief among them was seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton securing his first win for Ferrari in the sprint race, crossing the line with a commanding gap of 6.889 seconds—the fourth greatest in sprint race history. It was a statement drive from a team still clouded in drama following a cinematic season opener in Australia, where heated radio exchanges between Hamilton and his race engineer circulated widely on social media, fueling speculation about internal tensions.

Hamilton is no stranger to silencing critics. Despite his unmatched résumé—the statistical GOAT by most measures—he still faces a steady stream of doubters. His dominant sprint win in red went a long way in quieting them, at least for the foreseeable future. It was a moment of celebration for the Hamilton camp, with Lewis’ father, Anthony Hamilton, in attendance. Hopes were high heading into the main race, and for some of us—perhaps optimistically delusional fans—expectations were raised for the rest of the season. However, reality hit hard. It quickly became evident that this team is still far from being in genuine title contention anytime soon.

Double Disqualification Disaster in the Race

In 75 years of Formula 1 history, Ferrari had never experienced a double disqualification—until the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix. It was a historic weekend for all the wrong reasons. Lewis Hamilton (qualified P5) and Charles Leclerc (qualified P6) initially crossed the line in P6 and P5, respectively, but both were promptly disqualified post-race for separate technical infringements. Here’s a breakdown of how the entire weekend unraveled prior to this disaster:

Qualifying

Lewis Hamilton qualified P5 with a time of 1:30.927, starting the race just ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, who qualified P6 with a time of 1:31.021. This result raised a few eyebrows across the paddock since Charles Leclerc is known to be one of the best qualifiers on the grid—famous for his one-lap pace and holding a qualifying record of 57-32 against his previous teammate, the well-acclaimed Carlos Sainz. Charles also holds the second-most pole positions in Scuderia Ferrari history, with an impressive 26 career poles in his seven seasons with the team, trailing only the legendary Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton, while historically an elite qualifier, has struggled to find pace in the current generation of cars (post-2022 regulation change). He admits he is “just not very good at qualifying” with the new ground-effect machinery. In 2024, he was comprehensively beaten by George Russell in qualifying, with a head-to-head record of 6-24 in favor of Russell (including sprint qualifying). With this in mind, Hamilton outqualifying Leclerc for both the sprint and the race in Shanghai was most definitely a pleasant surprise for the Scuderia, as they hope to see their superstar—who is on a speculated $446 million contract—acclimate to the car as quickly as possible.

Race

Both drivers got off to a messy start, making contact with each other on the first lap, which led to a broken endplate for Charles Leclerc, causing a loss of 20-30 points of downforce—equating to an estimated loss of 0.2 to 0.3 seconds per lap. Regardless, it seemed that Leclerc was the quicker of the two Ferraris, with Hamilton inexplicably struggling to find any pace. This led to a position swap, freeing up a charged Leclerc and allowing him to challenge Hamilton’s ex-teammate, George Russell, who was comfortably in third. Leclerc was steadily closing the gap to Russell, making it within DRS range, until a hasty lock-up at a crucial moment dropped him behind.

Soon after, tire degradation issues plagued both Ferraris, with the team choosing to place Hamilton on a two-stop strategy. This was a questionable call, as it dropped him behind Verstappen on track with too few laps to catch up on fresh rubber, effectively placing him in no man’s land for the remainder of the race. However, it should be noted that Verstappen was catching up to Hamilton anyway, so it is fair to assume that regardless of the strategy, Hamilton would have finished in sixth place behind Max. Meanwhile, Leclerc’s broken front wing exacerbated the degradation on his front tires, leaving him exposed to a fired-up Verstappen, who got past him with relative ease.

Overall, it was a disappointing race performance from Ferrari, who seemed to struggle with tire wear as well as race pace. This is quite interesting, considering that in the second half of 2024, the Ferraris were especially strong in races and had the best tire wear on the grid. For instance, Leclerc’s Italian Grand Prix win on a bold one-stop strategy was possible due to the strong tire management potential of the SF-24, as well as Charles Leclerc’s “tire whispering” masterclass. The 2025 car seems to have lost some of these characteristics that helped Ferrari set up a title challenge in late 2024. Ferrari fans will surely be hoping this is a one-off situation caused by poor setup and not an inherent issue with the SF-25.

Post-Race Disqualification

Hamilton’s car was found to have excessive plank block wear during post-race inspections. The “plank,” also known as the skid block, is a piece of wood that prevents teams from running their car too low to the ground to gain illegal performance advantages. If a car is run too low, the plank scrapes the ground and falls below the minimum thickness requirements. Car 44’s plank was 0.4mm too worn on the left-hand side and 0.5mm too worn in the center and on the right. Team principal Fred Vasseur claims this minute discrepancy did not provide any competitive advantage. However, rules are rules, and Hamilton was disqualified.

Leclerc’s car was found to be 1 kilogram underweight. Ferrari’s statement blames this on excessive tire degradation, which led to a greater-than-anticipated loss of rubber, thus making the car underweight.

Both infractions—minute as they may seem—underscore deeper systemic issues at Ferrari. A lack of operational sharpness and strategic intellect continues to plague F1’s most decorated team, and moments like this are exactly why the Scuderia has struggled to mount a meaningful title challenge in recent years.