Ferrari Disqualified As Oscar Piastri Wins Chinese Grand Prix

 

Oscar Piastri lived up to expectations completing his impressive form from the qualifying session to win the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. 

The race ended in a one-two podium finish for the McLaren duo, followed in third by Mercedes' George Russell. It was McLaren's second dominant weekend in a row. However, Sprint race champion Lewis Hamilton and his Ferrari peer, Charles Leclerc were disqualified. 

" I was trying to see if I could pounce forwards but I just didn't have the pace of the cars up ahead," said Hamilton. "And just balance-wise, from the Sprint race we made these changes and the car was terrible after that, so I really struggled with the car from then on.'

After Hamilton had finished the race in sixth and Leclerc in fifth, the F1A stewards wronged Leclerc Ferarri for racing in an underweight car but for Hamilton, his car was too low. The FIA has a standard weight for every car which could give a racing car an undue advantage. 

Unlike last weekend, the weather was favorable in Shanghai, leaving the McLaren duo to give the race a good fight from challenges from George Russell. In the earlier stages, William's Alex Albon waded into the struggle for the front for two laps before Piastri retook the lead on lap 18. 

The closing stages were tricky for McLaren, as Norris struggled through the remaining laps with brake issues. He managed to get the car past the finish line behind Piastri, describing the experience as a "nightmare" scenario. 

Ferrari had a different scenario altogether as the duo was disqualified hours after the event. Consequentially, both Hamilton and Leclerc would lose the points they had earned from the race. However, Mercedes accepted responsibility for the situation acknowledging "there were no mitigation circumstances and that it is a genuine error by the team."

Following Ferrari's disqualification, the FIA stewards explained: "The plank assembly of Car 44 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."