Theory shared over what ‘caught out’ Ferrari with plank wear DSQ

A possible explanation behind Ferrari’s double disqualification at the F1 Chinese Grand Prix has been theorised.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were both disqualified for separate technical infringements on their respective Ferraris following post-race checks after Sunday’s grand prix in Shanghai.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton finished sixth on the road but his car was found to have excessive plank wear, while teammate Leclerc, who came home fifth, was 1kg under the 800kg car weight limit.

Hamilton’s exclusion in particular has raised eyebrows amid whispers in the F1 paddock about Ferrari facing early ride height issues.

After a difficult opening race in Australia, where Leclerc and Hamilton could only finish eighth and 10th, there were suggestions Ferrari had to raise their car to avoid too much plank wear, which had a detrimental effect on their performance.

Ferrari were unable to complete a race simulation with Hamilton on the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain due to a technical issue with their car, and Sky Sports F1’s pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz believes this crucial lack of running could be a factor behind the team’s early woes.

“I don’t think it’s insignificant that the plank wear thing happened on the first dry race," Kravitz said on the Sky Sports F1 show.

"I have a feeling it’s something carried over from Bahrain testing where they didn’t manage to do a race simulation and the first dry race that Lewis has had was the Chinese Grand Prix and then they discover this thing.

“There was various stuff about having to raise the car up for the wet, or just raise it up for Melbourne, and then they lowered it. That’s what we’re talking about here. If you have plank wear, it’s because you are having to raise and lower the car in an unexpected way that’s not been tested.

“So I think there’s something to do there with the lack of long run, heavy fuel, conclusive race simulations that they didn’t have from Bahrain, which has caught them out, because they are too good a team, and too clever a bunch of people to be caught out by the plank wear.

“I think there’s probably a bit of a story to it, which we will probably never find out or find out half way through the season, about this plank wear thing.”

Does Ferrari’s 2025 car have a fundamental issue?

The double DSQ in China capped off a dire start to the 2025 season for Ferrari, who are already 61 points adrift of early constructors’ championship leaders McLaren after just two rounds.

Meanwhile, Hamilton and Leclerc are well down in the drivers’ standings, sitting ninth and 10th respectively with just nine and eight points to their names.

Hamilton was able to notch up his first pole position and win for Ferrari in the China sprint race before the team’s challenge faded, leading Bernie Collins to wonder whether the SF-25 is “too peaky”.

"It would be standard for everyone to raise the car in Australia because of the bumps and they are detrimental to downforce and plank wear,” Collins said. 

"In Australia, Ferrari were not that strong. Some of it was down to strategy but the performance in qualifying was not that strong, so maybe they have a car that's very sensitive to ride height in terms of aero performance. All of these cars are because they're all ground-effect cars, but maybe it is more sensitive than others.

"I would be surprised that the Sprint in China was not a good enough indication that you would be illegal on plank wear. If they have got what we would call a 'peaky' ride height, which means there's a very small optimum ride height that you can have a good aerodynamic platform in, that is an issue for a car.

"You want to be fit to run a range of ride heights because of all these range of tracks. For example, in Austria there are intense kerbs so you want to add a bit of ride height there.

"Maybe the aero platform is too peaky.”