Charles Leclerc said “everything is my fault” after “throwing a very strong race into the trash” at the end of a hot and chaotic Miami Grand Prix, in which a stewards’ penalty later demoted the Ferrari driver to eighth place.
Leclerc got off to a good start, taking the lead from the second row of the grid, but the early safety car brought him back to third place behind Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli.
The Ferrari driver remained in position for the final podium until the end of the race, when he was caught by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the penultimate lap, dropping him to fourth place.
However, Leclerc’s race went awry on the final lap.
He spun into the wall at Turn 3, damaging his car, and although he was able to continue, he struggled with the SF-26 in the remaining laps, dropping to sixth place behind Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the final two corners.
Leclerc was then investigated by race stewards for allegedly cutting a corner after a spin, which ultimately resulted in him being given a 20-second penalty instead of a drive-through, but the sanction dropped Leclerc a further two places in the final standings to eighth behind teammate Lewis Hamilton and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
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Highlights of the 2026 Miami Grand Prix.
Before the penalty was handed down, a frustrated Leclerc told Sky Sports F1 about how the final lap had unfolded:
“I was very disappointed in my mistake.
“That shouldn’t happen. I pushed pretty hard on the second to last lap so I thought it would be a good idea to let Oscar pass me.”
“I knew that otherwise it would be very difficult to stay in front. But it was a very bad decision and I binned a very strong race in the space of the fourth corner, so I’m very frustrated about that.”
“The first thing I can say is that I tried my best to turn the corner. It was probably a lot harder than it looked from the outside,” Leclerc said of his drive to get his broken car to the finish line.
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Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc share their disappointment after a difficult Miami Grand Prix.
Leclerc told the stewards that his car did not turn properly after hitting the wall, but after an investigation authorities ruled that “the fact that he had some mechanical problem was not a valid reason for cutting some corners.”
“We decided that the fact that he had to cut the chicane (i.e. go off the track) meant he gained a permanent advantage by leaving the track in that way,” the stewards said.
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Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli and Lando Norris have hilarious reactions as they watch the Miami Grand Prix highlight reel.
“Therefore, taking into account the number of times the car went off the track and gained an advantage, we will impose a drive-through penalty on car No. 16 (Leclerc).”
F1 then heads to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix and another sprint weekend. Watch Sky Sports F1 live from 22nd to 24th May. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
