Leclerc angers Ferrari and Hamilton fans: I deserved the penalty

Ferrari threw away another chance of victory. This time, however, the blame lay not with the team but with its drivers, who clashed once again instead of working together to try to secure a one-two for the long-suffering tifosi. Charles Leclerc admits he overdid it on the opening lap.

Race control warned drivers on Saturday that it would take a very strict approach to any corner-cutting in the first sector. If a driver took a shortcut and held position without losing any ground to rivals, or even gained ground, it would be considered gaining an unfair advantage.

That was exactly what earned Charles Leclerc a penalty. “The penalty? The penalty was clearly deserved,” admitted the Monegasque, who braked so late at Turn 4 that he had no chance whatsoever of staying within the white lines. “Now, whether it should be five or ten seconds, that’s something we need to look at and understand what the stewards took into consideration.”

“We both missed the corner,” the Monaco-born driver pointed out, however. The stewards noted this and cited it as the reason for handing him a more lenient five-second penalty. “Clearly, we both braked too late. Then I couldn’t make the corner, so I cut it.”

Hamilton spent virtually the entire remainder of the Grand Prix angry about the opening lap. The drivers had agreed that incidents like this should be penalised strictly. Leclerc gained a significant advantage by cutting the corner — potentially worth more than five seconds thanks to running in clean air.

“My initial intention was to give the position back to Lewis, but unfortunately, Max was behind us and then came between the two of us,” explained Leclerc. “I asked about it on the radio, but clearly, we felt it wasn’t clear enough for me to drop back to third, so we stayed in the lead.”

Co-operation between Ferrari’s drivers has been a frequent topic of discussion this season. Could they not have worked together better at least now, with neither still fighting for the title? Had they not agreed an internal plan for how to handle a situation in which both moved to the front? “I mean, turn one, two, there was a gap, and when you are fighting for a win, I will always go for it. Turn four, five, I broke as late as I possibly could, and I guess Lewis did the same, and we both didn’t make the corner.”

“I’m sure Lewis definitely hated those first few laps, and we’ll discuss,” he promised in conclusion.