Leclerc and Gasly disqualified from Chinese Grand Prix over car weight breaches

Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly have both been disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after their respective Ferrari and Alpine cars were found to be underweight in post-race checks.

Leclerc finished Sunday afternoon’s race at the Shanghai International Circuit in fifth position, while Gasly just missed out on Alpine’s first point of the season by crossing the line in 11th.

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However, Leclerc, Gasly and team representatives from Ferrari and Alpine were later summoned by the stewards over alleged breaches of Article 4.1 of the Technical Regulations – a section relating to car weight.

In a report from FIA F1 Technical Delegate Jo Bauer, it was revealed that Leclerc’s car weighed exactly 800kg after he returned to the pits – the minimum weight required under the aforementioned regulations.

Given that his front wing was damaged in early contact with team mate Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc’s car was re-weighed with the retrieved endplate and then an official spare front wing, increasing the overall weight to 800.5kg.

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When fuel was drained from the car, though, with two litres being removed as per the draining procedure submitted by Ferrari, it dropped to a weight of 799kg – just below the minimum requirement.

Gasly’s car also came in at 800kg during its initial weight check, only for a fuel mass check to be carried out and 1.1 kg of fuel to be removed, again as per the draining procedure submitted by Alpine, meaning it subsequently registered at 799kg.

Both incidents were referred by Bauer to the stewards and, after reviewing each situation, the panel handed out disqualifications to both Leclerc and Gasly – taking away their race results.

However, there was a further twist to come for Leclerc's Ferrari team mate Lewis Hamilton, who was also disqualified after the rear skid block on his car was found to be under the minimum thickness required.

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The double disqualification for Ferrari means that Esteban Ocon, Kimi Antonelli, Alex Albon and Ollie Bearman – who had finished in seventh through to 10th respectively – are now promoted by two positions, while Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz also take home points by moving into the top 10, given that Gasly has also been disqualified from P11.