Charles Leclerc does not disagree with his Japanese Grand Prix penalty, which ended his chances of winning the world championship.
After crossing the line in second place ahead of Sergio Perez, Leclerc was demoted to third place behind his rival by a five-second time penalty. The stewards ruled he gained an advantage by going off the track at the chicane on the final lap while trying to out-run the Red Bull.
Leclerc admitted he wasn’t aware at the time that he was on the last lap of the race. “I did a mistake and tried to minimise it obviously by trying to go straight,” he explained. “I was not aware this was the last lap but a five seconds penalty was the right thing to do to be honest.”
The penalty had a decisive impact on the world championship. The points Leclerc lost meant Max Verstappen’s lead became unassailable, and he therefore clinched the title.
Leclerc made a strong start to the race originally, drawing ahead of Verstappen on the run to turn one, but then fell behind his rival. The race was red-flagged soon afterwards and did not resume until two hours later.
When it did, Leclerc pursued Verstappen briefly then fell back into Perez’s clutches. “We were very fast for four or five laps, but unfortunately the race was a bit longer than that,” he explained. “The fronts were just gone after four or five laps and after that it was all about trying to survive until the end of the race.
“The end of the race was extremely difficult. Obviously Checo was putting quite a bit of pressure behind and I was really struggling with both of my front tyres. So at the end, I ended up making a mistake, but we were really, really struggling today.”
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2022 Japanese Grand Prix
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