Charles Leclerc disagrees with FIA stewards over controversial F1 penalty

Ferrari F1 star Charles Leclerc has disagreed with FIA race stewards after a controversial incident at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Following a safety car restart on lap six, Oscar Piastri and Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli made contact, inadvertently knocking into Leclerc and ending his participation in the race when it looked as though he might be able to challenge for second place.

In what was a frustrating afternoon for Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton also DNF'd from the main race, leaving the Maranello-based team point-less and down in fourth in the constructors' championship, with both Mercedes and Red Bull overtaking them throughout the weekend.

For the incident involving Leclerc, McLaren's Oscar Piastri was handed a huge 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Antonelli which had huge consequences for his world championship challenge, dropping him from second all the way down to fifth.

With his team-mate and championship challenger Lando Norris winning the race, Piastri is now 24 points behind the Brit with just three race weekends remaining.

But Ferrari star Leclerc did not believe that Piastri was entirely at fault for the incident, in which he locked up heading into turn one and bashed wheels with Antonelli.

FIA race stewards had claimed that Piastri was 'wholly responsible for the collision', hence their decision to award him a 10s penalty and two penalty points.

Yet Leclerc had a differing view when talking to Sky Sports after the race.

"Oscar was optimistic but Kimi knew that Oscar was on the inside, I think, and he kind of did the corner like Oscar was never there," Leclerc said.

"For me the blame is not all on Oscar. Yes, it was optimistic, but this could have been avoided. I'm frustrated.

"At the end of the day I'm not angry with Oscar or Kimi, these things happen, but I wouldn't go as far as saying it was all Oscar's fault. I don't think it is."

Ferrari's nightmare weekend

With Ferrari currently in a fight for second in the constructors' championship, they would've been hoping to make the most of Brazil's sprint weekend, in which there were more points on offer than normal race weekends.

Out of the maximum 58 points available to teams this weekend, however, Ferrari scored just six, and now face a huge uphill battle if they want to usurp Mercedes and Red Bull once more.

Leclerc's participation in the race ended on lap six, but by that point, Hamilton's race was already ruined, after early contact with Franco Colapinto left him with severe damage to the floor on his Ferrari.

After being given a five-second time penalty for that incident and running last of the remaining runners, Ferrari opted to retire Hamilton's damaged car on lap 40, and the team were condemned to a point-less afternoon.

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