Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari win tarnished after disqualification decision

Lewis Hamilton's first Ferrari victory was quickly tarnished

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Saturday 29 March 2025 20:56

Lewis Hamilton's first win in Formula 1 with Ferrari has been tarnished following a disqualification decision made by the FIA at last weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

The 40-year-old bounced back tremendously after a lacklustre debut in Melbourne to earn his first pole position in last Saturday's sprint race, before converting the advantage to his maiden victory in red.

However, what should have remained as a glorious career highlight for Hamilton has arguably been overshadowed by the fact that he was later disqualified from Sunday's main race.

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Ferrari endured a disaster race result to round off the weekend in Shanghai, and although Hamilton had already been complaining over the change in setup to his SF-25, he surely would've taken the initial P6 result over the eventual disqualification for both he and new team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Should Hamilton brace for further Ferrari setbacks?

In the space of 24 hours, the British legend went from experiencing his first taste of greatness extracted from Ferrari's machinery to being hit with his first major heartbreak at the hands of the Scuderia.

In the week since the unfortunate result, Hamilton himself has steered away from commenting on the setback, whilst Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur admitted the Scuderia could be exposed to further disqualifications over technical mistakes in the future.

After the second grand prix of Hamilton's 2025 campaign, F1's governing body found the rear skid block on his car to be under the minimum thickness required in the technical regulations, meaning his position and the championship points initially earned were both stripped from him.

Many fans could be wondering, 'was Hamilton just unlucky'? However, the fact that both Hamilton and Leclerc were pulled up over technical violations doesn't bode well for the team's 2025 title chances.

If Ferrari wish to reignite their fight down to the wire with McLaren that we saw last season, they'll certainly need to do everything within their power to prevent an error like this from happening again.

As for Hamilton's future, the seven-time champion may only be two race weekends into the season, but even with his now largely overlooked sprint victory, he sits P9 in the drivers' standings with just nine points, a significant way off the fairytale top of the table ending that many of his fans envisioned when he announced his move to Maranello.