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F1 fans were left surprised after Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton offered to swap positions with his teammate Charles Leclerc during the recently concluded Chinese GP. The British driver started the race from P5 ahead of Leclerc after pipping him in the qualifying session on Saturday.
Hamilton made further progress off the line as he got past Red Bull driver Max Verstappen to move into P4. However, he collided with Charles Leclerc heading into Turn 3 and damaged the latter's front wing endplate.
Despite the damage, the Monegasque was the faster of the two Ferrari drivers. Lewis Hamilton acknowledged to his race engineer that he was struggling and offered to swap positions with his teammate. The duo executed the swap after a couple of laps of resistance from the seven-time F1 world champion.
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F1 fans gave their reactions to Lewis Hamilton swapping positions with Charles Leclerc on X, with one fan asking:
"Hamilton helping Leclerc? Or just accepting reality?"
"Tough to see Hamilton in that position—do you think it’s the car, the strategy, or just an off weekend?"
"A hero or a sly fox expecting a favor down the line?"
"Hang on - I thought Hamilton was going to ouss this season as he’s the greatest driver ever?" asked a fan.
"Hamilton getting to taste his own medicine," claimed another.
"The new Bottas," pointed out another.
Lewis Hamilton disqualified from the Chinese GP after failing post-race checks
Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton was disqualified at the end of the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix after he was found guilty of having more wearing on his skid blocks than allowed by the FIA.
In a statement released by the sport's governing body, they said:
“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. 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 Stewards determine that Article 3.5.9 of the FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty of a disqualification needs to be applied for such an infringement.”
Not just Hamilton but his teammate too was disqualified for having an underweight car and the two were stripped of their positions which cost Ferrari 18 points in the Constructor's championship.
It had been a positive weekend for Lewis Hamilton before the DSQ as he had dominated the Sprint segment of the race and won for the first time with the Italian team.
