"It was 50-50": Leclerc defends Piastri after restart crash ended his São Paulo Grand Prix
- Kavi Khandelwal
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
Written by Kavi Khandelwal
Charles Leclerc's hopes for a podium finish at the São Paulo Grand Prix came to an abrupt and frustrating end on Lap 9, following a chaotic Safety Car restart. The driver had initially started P3, behind Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli after a close qualifying.
Despite being the ultimate victim of the Turn 1 collision, the Ferrari driver offered a nuanced defense of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who was penalised with a 10-second penalty for causing the incident.
The race had barely resumed following a Safety Car period — triggered earlier by home hero Gabriel Bortoleto's crash — when the pack charged into the first corner. In the scramble for position, Piastri attempted a move down the inside of Antonelli.
The resulting contact sent Antonelli’s car into Leclerc’s Ferrari on the outside, causing a puncture that forced Leclerc into immediate retirement at Lap 7.
While the stewards determined Piastri was wholly at fault for the chain reaction, issuing him a penalty, Leclerc took a different view after reviewing the footage. He argued that while the letter of the law might support the penalty, the reality of racing dynamics suggested shared responsibility.
"I do agree we have a rule book and I think you've got to try and understand who is the one to blame," Leclerc stated. "In this case, I really think Kimi knew and was aware that Oscar was on the inside."
Leclerc conceded that Piastri had not fully drawn alongside the Mercedes before the braking zone—a key criterion often used by stewards to determine right of way. However, he insisted that Antonelli could not simply ignore the McLaren's presence on the tight inside line of Turn 1.
"Yes, he was not side by side, which is the way it's written in the rule book," Leclerc explained.
"[But] you cannot really do a corner like nobody is in the inside, if someone is on the inside, no matter how far he is. So for me, it's a bit more of a 50-50 blame with Kimi and Oscar. I don't think Oscar deserved all the blame there."
The diplomatic assessment did little to soften the blow for Leclerc personally. Having survived the initial race start and the subsequent Safety Car phase, retiring just as the race got back underway was a bitter pill to swallow.
"For me, it's the end of the race, which is very frustrating," he lamented. "Even more frustrating when you were very much in the mix for a podium, maybe even more today. I don't know if there was anything more than a podium, but a podium for sure. And it's a shame."
