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Liam Lawson has taken a cheeky swipe at Charles Leclerc after Ferrari were slapped with a post-race penalty. Leclerc finished just ahead of Lawson at the Brazilian Grand Prix, but his finishing position was changed after the race as he received a penalty from the stewards.
The Ferrari man had originally placed seventh in the race, but it was changed to eighth due to a five-second penalty. He was held responsible for causing a collision with Lawson during the final laps, meaning the Racing Bulls star took seventh place instead.
Commenting on the incident afterwards, Lawson accused Leclerc of continuously making illegal moves on the track. He remarked: "I think it was his wing that hit my tyre. So I think we got really lucky. I feel like it was exactly like his GP2 move in Abu Dhabi on Albon years ago.
“He did the same kind of thing. So maybe it's his speciality. I don't know if it's legal or not. We'll obviously go review it, but it was a good battle, hopefully."
Lawson would’ve no doubt welcomed the stewards’ decision, which found the amount of contact did merit a penalty for Leclerc. The verdict read: "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, the driver 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 five-second time penalty as opposed to a 10-second time penalty."
The Brazilian Grand Prix was won by the recently ousted world champion, Lando Norris, who finished 14 seconds clear of Max Verstappen. In his first race as reigning champion, Kimi Antonelli could only manage a fifth-placed finish, while Lewis Hamilton ended the day in ninth, way behind the leading pack.
Big moments. Packed grandstands. A championship battle that’s heating up.
When the Formula 1 season delivers like this, watching from home just isn’t the same as being there when the lights go out.
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