Charles Leclerc says it’s all down to me after “throwing a very strong race into the dustbin” in a terrible and chaotic ending to the Miami Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver was later demoted to eighth place due to a penalty from the stewards.
Leclerc’s race started strongly when he took the lead from the second row of the grid, before falling to third behind Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli after the initial Safety Car period.
The Ferrari driver, who was still in the final podium position at the end of the race, was caught and eventually passed McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the penultimate lap, dropping him to fourth.
However, Leclerc’s race went badly wrong in the final lap.
He hit the wall at Turn 3, damaging his car, and although he was able to continue driving, he struggled with his SF-26 for the remaining laps before finishing sixth behind Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the final two corners.
Race stewards then had Leclerc investigated for corner-cutting after a spin, which ultimately led to him receiving a 20-second penalty instead of a drive-through. This dropped him to eighth in the final standings, two places behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
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2026 Miami Grand Prix highlights.
Before the penalty was applied, a frustrated Leclerc said: Sky Sports F1 On how his final lap went: “It’s all down to me and other than that I don’t have much to add.
“I am very disappointed with my mistake.
“It shouldn’t have happened. I pushed very hard from the second to the last lap. I thought it would be a good idea for Oscar to let me overtake him.
“Otherwise I knew it would be very difficult to stay at the front, but it was a very wrong decision and I was very disappointed because it put a very strong race in the bin in the space of four corners.”
Leclerc said as he drove his ailing car to the finish line: “What I can say is that I tried my best to get through the corner first. It was probably a lot more difficult than it looked from the outside.”
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Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc shared their disappointment after a difficult Miami Grand Prix.
Leclerc told stewards that the car would not turn right properly after hitting the wall, but officials ruled after an investigation that “the fact that there was a mechanical problem of any kind did not constitute a valid reason for cutting multiple corners.”
“We determined that the fact that he had to cut the chicane (i.e. to leave the track) meant that he gained a sustained advantage by leaving the track in that way,” the stewards said.
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Oscar Piatri, Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris share their hilarious reactions while watching highlights from the Miami Grand Prix.
“We are therefore imposing a drive-through penalty on car 16 (Leclerc), taking into account the number of times the car went off the track and gained an advantage.”
Formula 1 next heads to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix and another sprint weekend. Watch live on Sky Sports F1 from 22-24 May. Stream Sky Sports NOW – No Commitment, Cancel Anytime
