Charles Leclerc says Oscar Piastri does not deserve all the blame for the collision which put the Ferrari driver out of the race.
The Ferrari driver’s race came to an ended after Piastri and Andrea Kimi Antonelli collided at the first corner following a Safety Car restart. The collision sent Antonelli’s car into the side of Leclerc’s, causing race-ending damage to the Ferrari.
Piastri and Leclerc were trying to pass Antonelli at the time. Leclerc said Antonelli should have given Piastri more room to make the corner.
“I do agree we have a rule book and I think the stewards are always trying to do their best to look at the rule book and to try and understand who is the one to blame,” said Leclerc. “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 really do a corner like nobody is in the inside if someone is on the inside no matter how far he is.
“So for me it’s a bit more of a 50-50 blame with Kimi and Oscar. I don’t think Oscar deserved all the blame there. But yeah anyway that doesn’t matter, for me it is the end of the race which is very frustrating.”
The stewards gave Piastri a 10-second time penalty for the collision after ruling he was “wholly responsible” for the collision.
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“At the Safety Car restart on lap six, car 81 (Oscar Piastri) attempted to overtake car 12 (Kimi Antonelli) on the inside of turn one. In doing so, [Piastri] did not establish the required overlap prior to and at the apex, as his front axle was not alongside the mirror of car 12, as defined in the Driving Standard Guidelines for overtaking on the inside of a corner.
“[Piastri] locked the brakes as he attempted to avoid contact by slowing, but was unable to do so and made contact with [Antonelli]. This contact caused [Antonelli] to make secondary contact with car 16 (Charles Leclerc), who was positioned on the outside and was forced to retire from the race as a result.
“[Piastri] was therefore wholly responsible for the collision. A 10-second time penalty and two penalty points are considered appropriate and consistent with recent precedents.”
Piastri’s penalty for colliding with Antonelli puts him on a total of eight penalty points.
Penalty box
Did the stewards issue the correct penalty? Cast your vote below and have your say in the comments.
Piastri’s penalty for colliding with Antonelli was:
- No opinion (0%)
- Far too lenient (0%)
- Slightly too lenient (0%)
- Correct (32%)
- Slightly too harsh (19%)
- Far too harsh (49%)
Total Voters: 47
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This article will be updated
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