Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Chinese Grand Prix after finishing sixth in what turned out to be a difficult and frustrating Sunday for the British driver after Saturday Sprint victory.

During the race, he didn’t have the pace to keep up with the front runners and even allowed his teammate, Charles Leclerc, to pass him before switching to a two-stop strategy in an attempt to recover. However, things went from bad to worse after the chequered flag, when both Ferrari drivers were disqualified during the post-race checks, which was a first in the team’s long history.

The reason for Hamilton’s disqualification was a problem with the floor of his car. After every race, the FIA checks certain parts of the cars to make sure they follow the technical rules, and in this case, officials found that the plank underneath Hamilton’s Ferrari, which a part designed to monitor how close the car runs to the ground, was too thin. The rules require this plank to be at least 9mm thick, but on Hamilton’s car, the measurements showed it was slightly below that limit, with readings of around 8.5mm.

Ferrari accepted that the measurements were correct and admitted that it was a simple mistake on their part, with no special circumstances to explain it. Because of that, the standard penalty, which in this case is disqualification from the race, had to be applied.

This isn’t the first time something like this happened to Hamilton. In 2023, at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, he was disqualified after finishing second because the plank on his Mercedes was also too worn. In the same race, Leclerc, who wasn't yet his teammate at the time, was also disqualified for the same thing, after finishing fourth.

In China, the Monegasque, this time as Hamilton's teammate, got disqualified for having an underweight car,To add to the drama, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was also disqualified for the same thing.