Leclerc hit with post-race penalty for Sao Paulo collision with Lawson

Charles Leclerc has been handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Liam Lawson over the final laps of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, dropping the Ferrari racer from P7 to P8.

Looking to recover as many positions as possible following what he labelled a "horrendous" opening stint at Interlagos, Leclerc steadily closed the gap down to the Racing Bulls driver amid increasing rainfall.

As their tight battle for seventh developed, the Monegasque tapped the left rear wheel of Lawson's car at Turn 12 before sweeping around the outside to demote the New Zealander on the penultimate lap.

The stewards determined that the contact merited a time penalty for Leclerc, and with Lawson crossing the line just under two seconds behind, the pair have subsequently swapped places in the race classification.

"The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 16 (Charles Leclerc), the driver of Car 30 (Liam Lawson), team representatives and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video and in-car video evidence and determined that Car 16 made contact with Car 30 at turn 12," the verdict read.

"While the contact was minor and Car 30 was able to maintain the lead thereafter, thedriver of Car 30 claimed that the contact damaged the rear left rim of his car and also enabled Car 16 to get closer to him on track and then eventually overtake him 5 corners later. Furthermore, under the Driving Standard Guidelines, Car 30 had the right to the corner and it was for Car 16 to take the necessary steps to avoid a collision.

"The driver of Car 16 claimed that it was a minor contact with no obvious sporting consequence. While we acknowledge that the contact was minor, having examined the fight on track between the two cars, we conclude that Car 16 was able to get closer to and thereafter overtake Car 30 because of the contact. The contact clearly disrupted Car 30 and allowed Car 16 to pull up alongside when it was further away before the contact. This was an obvious sporting consequence.

"In mitigation, the wet conditions coupled with the nature of the contact (ie minor) was taken into account in imposing a 5 second time penalty as opposed to a 10 second time penalty."

More to follow...