Charles Leclerc was punished hours after the conclusion of the Miami Formula 1 GP. On this Sunday (3), the driver received a 20-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, thus dropping to eighth place in the final classification.
Read more F1: Verstappen talks about his 360° spin at the start in Miami
The Ferrari driver had a dreadful end to the race in Florida. Fighting for third place with Oscar Piastri, he spun alone and lightly hit the protective wall, losing his podium position.
Although he did not retire, he had to defend himself from George Russell and Max Verstappen, but without success, finishing in sixth place. It happened that on this last lap, he went off the track several times to stay on the racing line.
Because of this, the race direction did not show leniency to the Monegasque and added 20 seconds to his final time, dropping him to eighth. As a result, Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto each gained a position.
“The stewards heard the driver of car 16 (Charles Leclerc), the team representative, and analyzed data from the positioning/marshalling system, videos, team radio, and onboard images,” says the stewards’ document.
“Car 16 spun on the last lap, at turn 3, and hit the wall but continued on the track. The driver informed us that the car seemed fine, except for the fact that he could not properly negotiate right-hand corners.
Read more F1: Verstappen comments on crash with Russell in Miami: «Nothing to do with our history»
“Given this problem, he was forced to cut chicanes on the way to the finish line. We determined that by cutting the chicanes (i.e., leaving the track), he gained a lasting advantage by leaving the racing line in this way.
“The fact that there was some kind of mechanical problem does not constitute a valid justification. Therefore, we applied a drive-through penalty to car 16, considering the number of times he left the track and gained an advantage.
“We also evaluated whether there was an additional infraction for continuing to drive a car with an obvious and perceptible mechanical problem.
“We determined that there was no evidence of an obvious or clearly identifiable mechanical problem. Thus, we took no further action regarding this possible infraction.”
Read more F1: Lawson explains failure that caused serious accident with Gasly
