After the Brazilian Grand Prix of Formula 1, authorities have imposed several sanctions on prominent drivers. Among them, Charles Leclerc has received a five-second penalty that drops him to eighth place overall.
The Monegasque driver had an incident with Liam Lawson while they fought for the seventh position on lap 69. Both drivers were able to continue the race after the impact at Juncao corner, but the incident was investigated after the competition.
The FIA stewards determined that Leclerc was responsible for the contact, which resulted in his drop to eighth place. Although the contact was deemed minor and occurred under wet track conditions, the penalty was upheld at five seconds.
The stewards argued that, although the impact was not severe, it allowed Lawson to close in and overtake Leclerc shortly after the incident, thereby affecting the competition.
Dangerous Pitstops for Antonelli and Bearman
In another note, the new world champion Kimi Antonelli was also penalized with five seconds for an unsafe release during a pitstop. It was during his last tire change when he encountered Franco Colapinto, who was coming in the opposite direction. Despite the penalty, Antonelli finished the race in fifth position, as he had a margin of over 20 seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri.
Additionally, Oliver Bearman was also penalized with five seconds for a dangerous release that affected Leclerc. The Haas driver was released onto Leclerc’s track, forcing him to brake suddenly in the pit area. However, this penalty did not affect Bearman’s final standing, as he finished in 17th place, one lap ahead of Sergio Perez.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
