Nico Hulkenberg disqualified from Bahrain Grand Prix

Nico Hulkenberg is likely to be disqualified from the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix after his car's rear skid failed to meet the minimum thickness requirement.

Nico Hulkenberg has been disqualified from the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix after his rear skid was measured as being below the minimum thickness. This was the same issue that led to Lewis Hamilton's disqualification from the Chinese Grand Prix.

With this being less than the 9 mm minimum thickness required by TR Article 3.5.9 e, this issue was referred to the stewards and resulted in the German driver's disqualification.

This comes after a difficult qualifying from the Sauber driver, with him getting a lap deleted after he exceeded track limits. A late decision from the FIA saw the driver push through to Q2 where he qualified 13th, before he was eventually demoted to 16th.

"The lap time of 1:31.998 of Car 27 recorded in Q1 is deleted. All lap times of Car 27 in Q2 are deleted. Car 27 will therefore be classified in position 16 in Qualifying," the resulting document from the FIA read.

Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Confirming his disqualification, the FIA published the following:

"Car 27 is disqualified from the Race classification. All other drivers move up in the classification.

"The Stewards heard from the team representative of Car 27 (Nico Hulkenberg).

"The plank assembly of Car 27 was measured and found to be 8.4mm (LHS), 8.5mm (car centerline) and 8.4mm (RHS). This is below the minimum thickness of 9mm specified under Article 3.5.9 e) of the Technical Regulations.

"During the hearing the team representative confirmed that the measurement is correct and that all required procedures were performed correctly. The team also acknowledged that it was a genuine error by the team.

"The Stewards determine that Article 3.5.9 e) of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations has been breached and therefore the standard penalty of a disqualification needs to be applied for such an infringement.

"Competitors are reminded that they have the right to appeal certain decisions of the Stewards, in accordance with Article 15 of the FIA International Sporting Code and Chapter 4 of the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, within the applicable time limits.

"Decisions of the Stewards are taken independently of the FIA and are based solely on the relevant regulations, guidelines and evidence presented."