Leclerc admits double disqualification ‘hurt’ Ferrari as Hamilton left ‘100% confident’ team can fix any problems

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have both backed Ferrari to recover following their double disqualification from the Chinese Grand Prix, with Leclerc admitting that losing such a haul of points “hurt the team a lot”.

The Scuderia experienced mixed fortunes in Shanghai, having gone from taking victory in Saturday’s Sprint courtesy of Hamilton to struggling to replicate that pace during Qualifying and the race itself.

Leclerc and Hamilton initially finished the Grand Prix in fifth and sixth respectively, but the news came after the chequered flag had fallen that Leclerc – along with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly – had been disqualified due to his car being underweight.

Things then got even worse for Ferrari when it was confirmed soon afterwards that Hamilton had also been removed from the results owing to the rear skid block on his SF-25 being found to be under the minimum thickness required in the technical regulations.

SHANGHAI, CHINA - MARCH 23: Charles Leclerc of Monaco driving the (16) Scuderia Ferrari SF-25 waves — Leclerc’s car was found to be underweight after the Chinese Grand Prix

Reflecting on whether he has confidence that the team can avoid a repeat of any such mistakes at this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Leclerc said: “I’m confident because whenever you make mistakes, you learn from them, especially when they cost that much.

“Everybody plays with the limit and tries to be as close as possible to it, but to have both cars underneath it was a big pain. We didn’t need that. It’s been a very difficult first part of the season.

“The first two races were difficult, the pace was not where we expected it to be, and to lose even more points than we already did with that, it hurts the team a lot. I’m confident we’ve learned from it.

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“Whenever these kind of events happen, we try to understand and analyse what went wrong and change a little bit the process. It was a multitude of things adding up, and the margin we took wasn’t big enough.”

Entering into the season, Ferrari voiced their hopes of contending for both championships – and while they have faced a tough start to the campaign, Leclerc is not yet worried that this goal might prove unrealistic.

“If we go back to last year, looking at the first few races, the situation in terms of performance was quite a bit worse than where we are now,” the Monegasque explained.

SUZUKA, JAPAN - APRIL 03: Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Scuderia Ferrari in the Drivers Press — Leclerc is confident that Ferrari can learn from the mistakes of their double disqualification

“We kind of expected Red Bull to dominate the whole season, and by taking the points that were available at the beginning of the season with the performance we had, we ended up actually fighting for the championship – which was way above our expectations.

“There’s definitely not that feeling within the team at the moment. However, we do feel we haven’t maximised what we could have in the first two races, and that’s frustrating. But it doesn’t mean we cannot recover. The season is still very long. Small steps after small steps – we can still have an amazing season.”

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Hamilton has echoed his team mate’s sentiments, with the seven-time World Champion admitting that he has admired how the squad have dealt with the disqualification in the time since.

“I was at the factory during the week and was really impressed with how the team digested and worked through the analysis and figured out ways of working better moving forward – better processes and just making sure that, hopefully, that doesn’t happen again,” he reflected.

With this in mind, Hamilton is positive that Ferrari can continue to handle any issues that may arise as he himself continues his learning process at his new team.

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“I’m 100% confident we can fix any of the problems that we have,” the 40-year-old stated. “We have absolutely all we need within this team. I’ve really spent this past couple of months trying to observe the way the team operates.

“It’s different to what I’ve experienced. Every team is different – Mclaren was different, Mercedes is different to McLaren and here again.

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“So just observing and seeing where I can contribute and what I can bring to the table. There are areas that we need to elevate, for sure, but I think Fred [Vasseur] has got a great approach.

“Again, I didn’t expect to come straight into the season and win Race 1. The Sprint race was a real bonus, to be honest. It was the first time I’d actually done a long run on any of the tyres and then in the race, it was the first time I’d driven on the C2 tyre.

“I didn’t feel too bummed or anything from the disqualification. Those are the times you learn the most as a team and I was really impressed. It was really interesting to see how the team dealt with it, and they were just really constructive and everyone remained positive, so we just move on.”