Charles Leclerc has dropped two places to eighth in the Miami Grand Prix after receiving a post-race penalty.
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Race stewards imposed a 20-second time penalty on Leclerc — the equivalent of a post-race drive-through — for repeatedly leaving the track on the race’s final lap.
Leclerc went off following a spin and impact with the wall at turn three on the last lap, and then cut turns six, eight, 11 and 14 as he made his way to the finish. The stewards concluded he left the track multiple times to reduce the impact of damage to his car.
“Car 16 [Leclerc] spun on the last lap at turn three and hit the wall but continued on-track,” the stewards said. “The driver informed us that the car appeared fine save that the car would not negotiate the right-hand corners properly.”
They added: “Given this problem, he was forced to cut chicanes on the way to the chequered flag. 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. The fact that he had a mechanical issue of some sort did not amount to a justifiable reason.
“We accordingly impose a drive-through penalty on car 16, given the number of times the car left the track and gained an advantage.”
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The 20-second penalty demoted Leclerc to eighth, promoting Lewis Hamilton and Franco Colapinto to sixth and seventh respectively.
Last year Hamilton received a five-second time penalty for a similar infringement in Singapore.
The stewards also examined an incident between Leclerc and George Russell on the final lap at turn 17 but cleared Leclerc of causing a collision.
A separate collision between Russell and Max Verstappen at turn one — which damaged Russell’s car — was also reviewed and deemed a minor racing incident. Russell managed to pass and remain ahead of Verstappen despite damage to his front wing after contact with the Red Bull’s left-rear tyre.
“Both drivers considered this incident to be a minor racing incident and we agreed,” the stewards said.
Three more drivers were cleared following investigations into potential yellow flag infringements. Fernando Alonso, Alexander Albon and Esteban Ocon were each investigated over their response to a single yellow flag shown for Isack Hadjar’s crash, and the stewards found their actions appropriate.
The stewards stated: “After reviewing the data, we determined that [the drivers] dealt appropriately with the yellow flag situation at turn 15.”
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