Formula 1's stewards at the Belgian Grand Prix have admitted they should have penalised Charles Leclerc for his collision with Oscar Piastri at Spa, according to Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft.
Leclerc was controversially not penalised following a clash with Piastri as the pair jostled for third place at Les Combes on lap 8 of last Sunday's race at Spa-Francorchamps. Piastri positioned his McLaren on the outside of the defending Leclerc, who squeezed the Australian to the edge of the track, resulting in contact between Leclerc's rear-left tyre and Piastri's front-right wheel.
Both drivers were able to continue but Piastri suffered floor damage that McLaren believes cost him around two-to-three tenths per lap for the remainder of the race.
The incident was investigated by the stewards at the time but they opted to take no further action. Croft revealed during Sky's coverage of first practice at the Hungaroring that the stewards admitted their mistake in a meeting before the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.
"The Charles Leclerc incident at Turn 5, the stewards actually admitted on second thoughts that he deserved a penalty," Croft said. "I think the consensus was, it needs a re-think for next time."
Former F1 driver and Sky Sports analyst Anthony Davidson was emphatic: "That was 100 percent — 100 percent — a penalty. Piastri was in a position he couldn't back out of. Once you are in that position where you can't back out of it, and contact is made when the car on the defensive line is supposed to give a car's width, but they make contact with you, it's a no-brainer. I can't believe he didn't get a penalty."
Speaking in Budapest on Thursday, Leclerc admitted his move had been over the limit. "At the end of the day, my view in the car is that I try to push things to the limit," the Monegasque said. "I think with Oscar it was a bit on the other side — so that's probably not the way I want to race all the time. It's also risky for me at the end of the day. You're always trying to leave the smallest place available. That was maybe a bit too sketchy."
Sources
- https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1101636/1/f1-stewards-admit-major-error-charles-leclerc-and-oscar-piastri-clash
