Charles Leclerc accepted full responsibility for his final-lap crash in Miami.
The Ferrari driver dropped from fourth to sixth after spinning at turn three and sustaining damage. The incident occurred shortly after he had lost third place to Oscar Piastri.
“I’m very disappointed with myself,” Leclerc said after the race. “The last-lap mistake is obviously all on me and it cost us a P3 or a P4. More likely it would have been a P4, but the P3 was still right there.
“So I’m really disappointed with myself. Mistakes happen but in the last lap of the race, like that, it’s frustrating and not the level where I should be at.”
Until the spin, Leclerc had been on course to continue his streak of finishing every grand prix in the top four this season.
“It’s been a very strong start to the season, not many mistakes,” he added. “This one luckily didn’t cost us too many points, but it could have ended in the wall and that’s it. It’s a shame.”
Leclerc had taken the lead at the start but was passed early by Lando Norris. An early, slow pit stop dropped him further down the order behind George Russell. Although he later reclaimed Russell, he could not prevent Piastri from closing in on the final laps.
“McLaren was very strong,” Leclerc said. “On my side I tried everything, I could still try and match their lap times in some parts of the race, but then our strategy was a little bit suboptimal and that made it difficult.”
Leclerc faces potential post-race penalties as officials are investigating whether he drove a car in an unsafe condition and for reportedly cutting the track four times.
Update: Leclerc drops to eighth place after 20-second time penalty
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