Lewis Hamilton briefly eclipsed another Michael Schumacher Formula 1 record at the Chinese Grand Prix but was stripped of it when he was later disqualified from the race
Lewis Hamilton’s disqualification from the Chinese Grand Prix meant he was stripped of more than just a handful of World Championship points. The Brit also lost an all-time Formula 1 record that he set during the Shanghai race.
Hamilton won the sprint race on Saturday, marking his first victory as a Ferrari driver. But after setup changes in search of even better performance, he struggled with his car and finished just sixth in the main Grand Prix.
That was one place behind team-mate Charles Leclerc who was hampered by front wing damage sustained in minor contact with Hamilton on the opening lap. But both were later stripped of those results after their cars failed post-race checks.
The decision meant Hamilton lost the eight points he thought he had gained as a result of his sixth-placed finish. And it also meant he was no longer the recipient of the DHL Fastest Lap award, which he had earned by setting the best lap time of anyone over the course of the race.
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Rule changes for this year meant it was not worth an extra point anyway, as had been the case in previous seasons. But it was still a milestone moment for Hamilton as it meant he had secured the fastest lap in a Grand Prix for the 16th consecutive season in F1.
That bettered the current record of 15, which he shared with Michael Schumacher. And he still does, because of the disqualification which means he is still waiting to set the fastest lap of a race in 2025.
There will be plenty more chances for him to do so, of course. Just two Grands Prix have been completed with 22 more to come between now and December, providing Hamilton with ample opportunity to make that record his own again.
Post-race checks on his car in Shanghai found that there was too much wear on the underside of his car, indicating that the ride height was illegally low. The rules allow for up to one millimetre of wear to the plank on the floor of a car over the course of a race and Hamilton’s was found to be just 0.4mm too thin.
But any failure to meet the technical regulations, no matter how small the margins are, tends to be met by an automatic disqualification from that session. And so, for the third time in his career, Hamilton was stripped of his result after a race.
The first happened in 2009, the punishment handed out because Hamilton was found to have lied to the stewards about a radio instruction to let another driver pass. And the most recent before Sunday in Shanghai was at the 2023 US Grand Prix, after which he was also found to have picked up too much plank wear over the course of the race.
