'Unbelievably amateur Ferrari ruining Hamilton's arrival' - Chinese Grand Prix Hot Takes

Chinese Grand Prix

'Unbelievably amateur Ferrari ruining Hamilton's arrival' - Chinese Grand Prix Hot Takes

The Chinese Grand Prix yielded another McLaren win

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 23 March 2025 19:00

Round two of the 2025 Formula 1 world championship yielded another McLaren victory, but this time it was Oscar Piastri taking the win.

It was after the race, however, that the weekend's big story emerged, with three drivers being disqualified entirely.

Article continues under video

As good as McLaren were - and they were very good - Ferrari were as bad, losing every single one of their points for two completely different technical infringements.

Following a fantastic weekend of action at the Shanghai International Circuit, the GPFans team have given their hot takes and brutal opinions from the 2025 Chinese GP.

GPFans Chinese Grand Prix Hot Takes

'Maybe Lewis Hamilton won’t live to regret his move to Ferrari. He gets to fulfil a life goal after all, and it’s possible that he jumped just in time to help steer development for the 2026 rule changes and finally hook title number eight next year. But...'

That's what I wrote straight after the chequered flag fell, when it was 'only' two galaxy brain strategy calls in his first two Ferrari races damaging his place in the standings, with the Australian rain pit-stop decision the worst of the bunch (alright, and Leclerc hit him on the opening lap in China too).

Then we all sat back for a well-deserved cup of coffee at GPFans Towers with half an eye on our laptops and all hell broke loose. Charles Leclerc's car was underweight and he got disqualified. Hamilton's skid blocks were worn down too far, and he was disqualified.

That's not one, but two different massive, once-in-a-blue-moon technical disasters in a single weekend. Not even a single weekend, a single day, because this wasn't an issue that came up after Saturday's sprint race.

This isn't just a track limits penalty that happens a couple of times a year. The last skid block disqualification before Hamilton (COTA, 2023) was all the back in 2001 for Jarno Trulli's Jordan, and even then the legendary arguer Eddie Jordan managed to get that penalty overturned.

Before George Russell (Spa, 2024) the last underweight car disqualification was in 2013 at the British Grand Prix. This is unbelievably amateur-hour stuff. This isn't the sort of thing that a serious team does.

This is Ferrari, Lewis. This is what you chose. You feeling nervous yet?

Matt Hobkinson - Global Lead Editor

Red Bull need to change their car or their driver before the Japanese Grand Prix.

Christian Horner’s team are still trying to fix the same problem they’ve had for years. What on earth do you do when you have a car that only Max Verstappen can drive?

Verstappen is arguably the most talented driver on the grid so Red Bull will not want to change the car without reason. But Max isn’t going to win the drivers’ title and Red Bull aren’t going to win the constructors’ this year.

And when you take that fact coupled with Liam Lawson simply being unable to drive the Red Bull - they have a bit of a dilemma.

Race Results: Lando Norris beaten as FIA issue late penalty at Chinese Grand Prix

Liam Lawson has struggled early on at Red Bull

Do you promote Yuki Tsunoda up to the Red Bull team and move Liam back down? But then what happens if the same struggles happen again?

The team need to do something before they arrive in Suzuka. I certainly don’t envy the person who has to either tell Max that they are changing the car or Liam that he’s being demoted.

But something has to give.

Sam Cook - F1 journalist

The sprint race may have given Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen fans some hope, but this championship battle is all about the papaya cars.

Lando Norris took pole and led the Australian GP from start to finish, and now Oscar Piastri has done exactly the same thing at the Chinese GP.

It’s going to be a brilliant title race between the young McLaren duo, but only them, Ferrari and Red Bull are not fast enough to win races at the moment, and Mercedes might be able to challenge the McLarens at odd events, but not consistently enough to give George Russell a chance of a championship fight.

It’s been a while since we’ve said this but…Max Verstappen will NOT win the drivers’ championship.

Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

View full biography

Lewis Hamilton Ferrari McLaren Oscar Piastri Shanghai International Circuit