“That’s ridiculous”: Fans react as Ferrari release statement post Lewis Hamilton-Charles Leclerc double disaster in China

Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc had their Chinese Grand Prix race results disqualfied after FIA stewards found issues with the drivers' cars in the post-race inspection. In the case of Leclerc, his car was found to be one kg below the required limit of 798kg, while his British teammate was disqualfied due to excessive skid wear, where part of the plank assembly under his vehicle was revealed to be 0.5mm thinner than the minimum thickness of 9mm. The Monegasque driver had crossed the line to take P5, while Hamilton had finished in P6.

Soon after, the stewards released the report regarding the Italian team's disqualifications, Ferrari released a statement of its own addressing the issues raised against the team.

Fans took to the comments section of the team's X (formerly Twitter) post to share their thoughts on Ferrari's response to the situation, as well as the decision to disqualify the drivers.

One fan believed that the decision to erase Lewis Hamilton's result, specifically, was absurd.

"How do they even measure 0.5mm, that's ridiculous," they wrote.

Other fans shared their disappointment in the team, voicing their hope that things would change for future races.

"This is the most unacceptable start to the season I have witnessed from this team in years. I have no words. 🤬," a fan commented.

"Very disappointing. This shouldn’t be happening, but the most important thing is to learn from it and prevent any repeat. On to the next one!" - another replied.

"it can only go up from here, forza ferrari," one fan wrote.

Other fans also took to the comments section underneath the post to share memes related to the situation, such as this one that displays the trials of being a fan of Ferrari:

"it takes time......"

The double disqualification leaves Ferrari fifth in the constructors' standings with 17 points, which has the team on the same level as Williams and 19 points behind Red Bull, currently third in the standings.

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Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton also faced disqualification in 2023 race

Lewis Hamilton leads Charles Leclerc on track during the F1 Grand Prix of United States at Circuit of The Americas on October 22, 2023 in Austin, Texas. - Source: Getty

This was not the first time that a skid block caused the disqualification of Lewis Hamilton, and this was the second time where the Brit and Charles Leclerc were both disqualified from the same event.

After the United States Grand Prix in 2023, when Hamilton drove for Mercedes and Leclerc was still a part of Ferrari, the two drivers were disqualified in the post-race inspection for having skid blocks that were below the minimum thickness.

The official report from the FIA stewards after the 2023 race read [via F1]:

"The onus is on the competitor to ensure that the car is in compliance with the regulations at all times during an event. In this particular case, the rear skid in the area defined in the Technical Delegate’s report was outside of the thresholds outlined in Article 3.5.9 e) of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations, which includes a tolerance for wear."

At the American GP, Hamilton lost out on his P2 finish, while Leclerc lost out on P6.