Charles Leclerc disagrees with FIA's penalty for Oscar Piastri after Brazilian GP disaster

Charles Leclerc disagreed with the FIA's decision to penalize Oscar Piastri for causing a collision with Andrea Kimi Antonelli that ultimately resulted in the Ferrari driver's DNF. The drivers went three-wide into the left-hander Turn 1 after a safety car restart early in the race, with Lando Norris leading the pack.

Norris comfortably defended his lead, but the trio behind him got too close for comfort going into Turn 1, with Piastri on the inside, Antonelli in the middle, and Leclerc on the outside. The McLaren driver locked up his front left tires while braking to avoid a collision with Antonelli, who then turned into the corner.

Oscar Piastri had no room left, and his front right tire clipped the left rear tire of his Mercedes rival, who ricocheted into Charles Leclerc. The right rear tire of Antonelli's W16 made hard contact with Leclerc's front left tire, which became punctured, and the rubber came loose on the circuit. With no front left tire, the Monegasque had to park his car by the side of the track.

Though Piastri mentioned on team radio that Antonelli left him no room, the stewards gave him a 10-second penalty for the collision. However, Charles Leclerc felt that it wasn't entirely the McLaren driver's fault, and the Mercedes rookie was equally responsible. While speaking about the incident and the penalty with F1TV, the Ferrari driver said:

"Yeah, I do agree we have a rulebook and the stewards are always trying to do their best, looking at the rulebook and trying to understand who is the one to blame. In this case, I really think Kimi knew and was aware that Oscar was on the inside. Yes, he was not side by side, which is the way it's written in the rulebook, but you cannot do a corner like nobody is in the inside, if somebody is on the inside, no matter how far he is. So for me, it's more of a 50-50 blame with Kimi and Oscar. I don't think Oscar deserved all the blame there."

Charles Leclerc entered the Brazilian GP weekend on a personal high, having gotten engaged to his girlfriend, Alexandra St Mleux, and exited Interlagos on a professional low. His P5 finish in the Sprint Race, which earned him four points, was unfortunately the highlight of his weekend.

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri finished the race in P5 while McLaren teammate Lando Norris won to extend his championship lead to 24 points.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton's DNFs in Brazil dent Ferrari's hopes in the constructors' championship

The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at the F1 Brazilian Grand Prix - Sprint & Qualifying - Source: Getty

Ferrari suffered a double DNF at the Brazilian GP. Besides Charles Leclerc getting taken out in an unfortunate incident, Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire just past the midway point through the 71-lap race, having sustained damage on the opening lap.

The seven-time champion was clipped by Carlos Sainz in Turn 1 on the opening lap, which led to his losing a handful of positions. Moreover, at the end of the lap, he misjudged his proximity to Franco Colapinto ahead of him and drove into the back of the Argentinian driver's Alpine, which damaged Hamilton's front wing and also got him a 5-second penalty for causing the collision.

The only points Ferrari earned at Interlagos were in the Sprint Race - Charles Leclerc's 4 points for finishing P5 and Lewis Hamilton's two points for finishing P7. It proved detrimental to the Scuderia's battle against Mercedes for P2 in the constructors' championship.

The Silver Arrows entered the Brazilian GP weekend, trailing the Prancing Horses by one point. However, after a double podium in the Sprint Race and a 2-4 result in the feature race, Mercedes is now 36 points ahead of Ferrari. Moreover, on the back of Max Verstappen's sensational drive from P19 to P3, even Red Bull overtook Ferrari and occupied P3 behind Mercedes.

Edited by Yash Kotak