Game On: Sports News, Highlights & Commentary
- Final-lap spin at Turn Three damaged the car, dropping Charles Leclerc from podium contention to sixth by the lap end.
- On the penultimate lap Oscar Piastri in McLaren overtook Charles Leclerc, contributing to his drop from third to fourth.
- Stewards investigated corner cutting and applied a 20-second penalty, equivalent to a drive-through, for leaving the track and gaining advantage.
- Penalty demoted Charles Leclerc two places to eighth, placing him behind teammate Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto.
- Stewards ruled that damage was not a justifiable reason to cut chicanes, rejecting Leclerc's mechanical-issue explanation.
Charles Leclerc said it was “all on me” after he “put a very strong race in the bin” in a torrid, chaotic end to his Miami Grand Prix which later saw the Ferrari driver demoted to eighth place by a stewards’ penalty.
Leclerc’s race had started strongly when he took the lead from the second row of the grid before dropping back to third behind Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli after an early Safety Car period.
Still running in the final podium position into the race’s closing stages, the Ferrari driver was caught and eventually passed by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the penultimate lap and so dropped to fourth.
But Leclerc’s race then went badly awry on the final lap.
He spun into the wall at Turn Three, damaging his car, and although he was able to continue on, he struggled with the SF-26 over the remainder of the lap and dropped behind Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to sixth place over the final two corners.
Race stewards then placed Leclerc under investigation for corner cutting after his spin, driving which would eventually earn him a 20-second penalty in lieu of a drive-through – a sanction which dropped him two further places to eighth behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto in the final classification.
Speaking before the penalty was applied, a frustrated Leclerc told Sky Sports F1 on how his final lap unravelled: “It’s all on me and I don’t have much to add other than that.
“Very disappointed with my mistake.
“It shouldn’t happen. I pushed very hard on the second to last lap, I thought it was a good idea to kind of let Oscar go for me to get the overtake.
“I knew it was going to be very difficult to stay in front otherwise. But it was a very poor decision, and in the space of four corners I put a very strong race in the bin, so I’m very frustrated about that.”
On his driving as he tried to get his ailing car to the finish, Leclerc said: “The thing I can say is that I did my best to try to make the corners, first of all. It was probably a lot more difficult than what it looked from outside.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc both share their disappointment following a difficult Miami Grand Prix.
Leclerc told stewards that the car would not take right-hand turns properly after contact with the wall but officials ruled after their investigation that “the fact that he had a mechanical issue of some sort did not amount to a justifiable reason” for cutting several corners.
“We determined that the fact that he had to cut the chicanes (i.e. to leave the track) meant that he gained a lasting advantage by leaving the track in that manner,” stewards said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli, and Lando Norris share hilarious reactions as they watch through the highlights reel of the Miami Grand Prix.
“We accordingly impose a Drive Through penalty on Car 16 [Leclerc], given the number of times the car left the track and gained an advantage.”
Formula 1 next heads to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix and another Sprint weekend. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 on May 22-24. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
Read the full story from the original source
