Lewis Hamilton vows to learn from ‘terrible’ post-Sprint car changes amid lack of pace in Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton has vowed to learn from post-Sprint set-up changes that made his car feel “terrible” in the Chinese Grand Prix, on a day where he struggled to keep the pace of his rivals and initially finished in sixth before later being disqualified due to a skid block breach..

It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for Hamilton at the Shanghai International Circuit, the seven-time World Champion having caused a surprise by taking pole in Friday’s Sprint Qualifying before going on to seal his maiden victory for the Scuderia by winning the Sprint on Saturday.

But the rest of the event did not quite match these heights for Hamilton, who lined up in fifth for Sunday’s Grand Prix and made contact with team mate Charles Leclerc on the opening lap.

The Briton was one of the only frontrunning drivers to opt for a two-stop strategy and – while he pumped in a series of fastest laps in the latter stages – Hamilton was unable to make up the time lost during his second stop and crossed the line in sixth.

However, a Technical Delegate’s report released after the race stated that, when the skid wear of Hamilton’s car was checked following the Grand Prix, the rearmost skid was found to be below the minimum 9mm thickness required, meaning that the matter was referred to the stewards.

The 40-year-old was subsequently disqualified from the results of the race, marking a nightmare end to the day for Ferrari given that Leclerc was also disqualified after his car was found to be below the minimum weight required by the technical regulations.

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Reflecting on the Grand Prix after jumping out of the car – and before the DSQ – Hamilton had said: “I feel okay. I wasn’t able to get the result that I was hoping for today. I needed a good start – which I got – [and] I was trying to see if I could pounce forwards but I just didn’t have the pace of the cars up ahead.

“And just balance-wise, from the Sprint race we made these changes and the car was terrible after that, so I really struggled with the car from then on.”

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Pushed on whether the knowledge that those set-up changes were the reason behind the struggles would help him to take the positives from the weekend – and his strong performance in the Sprint – Hamilton answered: “Yeah, definitely.

SHANGHAI, CHINA - MARCH 23: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Scuderia Ferrari SF-25 — Hamilton initially wound up sixth in his second Grand Prix appearance for Ferrari in China before later being disqualified

“I think it’s good learnings and hopefully [we] won’t do that again as I continue to learn this car. I think there’s definitely positives to take from the weekend.

“Obviously we’re losing ground to the McLarens points-wise, McLaren and Mercedes and [Max] Verstappen, but we’ve just got to keep pushing.”

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Following the news of their disqualification – and the loss of the 18 points earned in Sunday’s race – Ferrari have now lost further ground to their rivals, with the Scuderia’s tally dropping to 17 points while McLaren hold 78 at the top of the Teams' standings.