Charles Leclerc has been handed a 20-second post-race time penalty for a last-lap incident at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
Leclerc suffered a high-speed spin on the final lap of the Miami race, avoiding a huge accident but still suffering front-left car damage after tapping the Turn 3 wall.
As a result, Leclerc lost a podium finish to Oscar Piastri, and he then desperately attempted to fend off Mercedes' George Russell and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.
But because he suffered steering arm damage, Leclerc cut several corners and pushed the lapped car of Arvid Lindblad out of the way. He also made slight contact with Russell at the hairpin as he lost places to both the Mercedes man and Verstappen at the line.
After the race, the FIA race stewards investigated the contact with Russell as well as Leclerc allegedly leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Leclerc was handed a drive-through penalty for the latter, which was converted into a 20-second penalty post-race.
As a result, Leclerc drops down to eighth behind teammate Lewis Hamilton and Alpine's Franco Colapinto, who nets his best-ever grand prix result.
In his summons, Leclerc explained that his car struggled to turn right after his contact with the wall, leading to him cutting some of Miami's tighter chicanes, but the stewards argued that amounted to gaining a lasting advantage and punished him given the number of off-track excursions.
The FIA stewards verdict document stated: "Car 16 spun on the last lap at Turn 3 and hit the wall but continued on track. The driver informed us that the car appeared fine save that the car would not negotiate the right-hand corners properly. Given this problem, he was forced to cut chicanes on the way to the chequered flag. We determined that the fact that he had to cut the chicanes (i.e. to leave the track) meant that he gained a lasting advantage by leaving the track in that manner. The fact that he had a mechanical issue of some sort did not amount to a justifiable reason."
The stewards didn't take further action against Leclerc's car allegedly being in an unsafe condition, however, as there was no evidence of an obvious mechanical issue. There was also no further action against either Leclerc or Russell for contact at the hairpin, with the stewards agreeing it was a "minor racing incident."