Photo: © IMAGO

A respected Formula 1 pundit believes Ferrari’s double disqualification at this season’s Chinese Grand Prix could explain their recent struggles.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finished in the points in Shanghai back in March, but were subsequently demoted after their respective vehicles were deemed to have been in breach of regulations.

The incident caused no shortage of embarrassment within the team, who promised the same mistakes would not be repeated in the future as they apologised to their distraught fans.

Since then, Hamilton in particular has become increasingly frustrated with his own results, admitting he is at a loss to explain what is going wrong.

But Sky Sports broadcaster Ted Kravitz has questioned whether what happened in China may still be having an impact on the seven-time world champion’s performances.

“China was competitive, but because of the double disqualifications – on car weight, which is explainable, but plank wear which is probably more to the point – they’ve had to raise the car,” Kravitz said on the latest Sky F1 podcast.

“And something Lewis referred to, he said, ‘We’ve not been competitive since China’.

“Is that just because they’ve raised the car because they can’t run it low because they’ll get disqualified and they’re so terrified of that double disqualification which was so embarrassing for them?

“Or is there something else going on?”

What’s gone wrong at Ferrari?

Kravitz also pointed out a handful of other changes as to what might have changed at Ferrari as he reflected on their puzzling downturn.

“Let’s go back a little bit,” he said. “They got Loic Serra arriving this year and together with their engineers they decided to go with a pull rod front suspension.

“And this is the Ferrari, the Ferrari that finished second in the constructors’ last year.

“This is the Ferrari that was chasing down Lando at a rate of knots at Abu Dhabi. It was a good car at the end of 2024.

“And why have they gone backwards? Okay the front pull rod suspension is different, but they said we’ve got more headroom to improve. So I don’t think it’s that.”

Hamilton has endured a disappointing start to his career at the Italian giants following his sensational move from Mercedes during the off-season.

Aside from a sprint race victory in China, he has been a long way off the pace of his rivals, and has finished in the top five just once in six full-length races.

And his ongoing woes have prompted some pundits to speculate that he may quit Ferrari before his contract is up if things don’t improve.