Leclerc handed post-race penalty following collision with Lawson in São Paulo
Following an investigation, Charles Leclerc is penalised with a five-second penalty following his collision with Liam Lawson during the closing stages on the race in São Paulo.
Ferrari had a disappointing race in Interlagos with preliminary results of Leclerc finishing in seventh and Lewis Hamilton finishing in ninth. But, the weekend got more frustrating after a post-race penalty hit the No.16 garage, dropping him a position to eighth.
Leclerc and Lawson had been battling for a few laps before it hit boiling point on Lap 69. The Monegasque attempted to make an overtake on the Racing Bulls driver but tapped the left rear wheel of Lawson's car, forcing the New Zealander wide, providing Leclerc an opening to complete the overtake. Both cars were able to continue the race, but the incident was noted for post-race analysis.
After reviewing data, clips and speaking with the drivers about the incident, the stewards deemed that the contact warranted a penalty.
“While the contact was minor and Car 30 [Lawson] was able to maintain the lead thereafter, the driver of car 30 claimed that the contact damaged the rear left rim of his car and also enabled Car 16 [Leclerc] to get closer to him on track and then eventually overtake him five corners later,” the stewards said in a published document presenting their findings of the incident.
“Furthermore, under the Driving Standard Guidelines, Car 30 had the right to the corner and it was for car 16 to take the necessary steps to avoid a collision.
“The driver of car 16 claimed that it was a minor contact with no obvious sporting consequence.
“While we acknowledge that the contact was minor, having examined the fight on track between the two cars, we conclude that car 16 was able to get closer to and thereafter overtake car 30 because of the contact. The contact clearly disrupted car 30 and allowed car 16 to pull up alongside when it was further away before the contact. This was an obvious sporting consequence.
“In mitigation, the wet conditions coupled with the nature of the contact (i.e. minor) was taken into account in imposing a five second time penalty as opposed to a 10 second time penalty.”
Following the race, Lawson was questioned about his thoughts on the overtake. The Racing Bulls driver likened the incident to GP2 Abu Dhabi finale in 2017, when Leclerc made light contact with Alex Albon around the hairpin, which compromised Albon's exit as the Monegasque used the subsequent slipstream to take the win.
"I think it was his wing which hit my tyre, so I think we got really lucky," Lawson said to the media in the post-race interview.
"I feel like it was exactly like his GP2 move on Albon in Abu Dhabi years ago; he did the same kind of thing, so maybe it is his speciality.
"I don't know if it is legal or not, and we'll go and review it, but it was a good battle overall."
The penalty means Lawson moves into seventh place.
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