Charles Leclerc penalised by Miami Grand Prix stewards amid multiple post-race investigations

Charles Leclerc’s day at the Miami International Autodrome has taken a turn for the worse after the stewards gave him a post-race time penalty.

Leclerc was called up by the officiating panel for three separate potential offences, triggered when the Ferrari man suffered a last-lap spin and tapped the wall.

After that, Leclerc was noted for driving his damaged car in an unsafe condition, leaving the track multiple times and gaining an advantage, and clashing with Mercedes rival George Russell at the final hairpin.

Following their investigations, the stewards opted to hand Leclerc a drive-through penalty, which – given that this was handed out after the Grand Prix – has been converted into 20 seconds being added onto his race time, dropping him down the order to eighth place.

This penalty was given for leaving the track “on several occasions without a justifiable reason”, a document released following the stewards’ hearing confirmed.

After hearing from Leclerc and a team representative – as well as the data, video and radio evidence – the findings from the stewards read: “Car 16 spun on the last lap at Turn 3 and hit the wall but continued on track.

“The driver informed us that the car appeared fine save that the car would not negotiate the righthand corners properly.

“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.

“We also considered whether there was an additional breach in continuing to drive a car with an obvious and discernible mechanical issue. We determined that there was no evidence of there being an obvious of discernible mechanical issue. We therefore took no further action in relation to that potential infringement.”

In a separate investigation for Leclerc’s contact with Russell into Turn 17, the stewards deemed that no further action was necessary, stating in a document from that hearing: “Both drivers considered the contact to be minor racing incidents and we agreed.”