Atrás
Charles Leclerc's tough Brazilian Grand Prix was compounded further after the race, with the FIA confirming that he was handed a five-second time penalty hours after the chequered flag.
That penalty drops the Ferrari driver down from an already-disappointing seventh place down to eighth, allowing Liam Lawson to leapfrog him up into that seventh spot.
Leclerc was penalised for causing a collision with Lawson in the closing stages of the race, nerfing the Kiwi out of his way in a desperate attempt to salvage an extra couple of points from a race in which he struggled.
Max Verstappen borrowed a famous line from NASCAR discussions when he first saw the incident in the cool-down room with his fellow podium finishers, quipping 'rubbing is racing...?'
Leclerc wasn't the only driver to have a handful of seconds added to his race time by the stewards, with two other finishers hit with five-second penalties for unsafe releases in the pit lane during a late round of hurried stops when the rain returned.
Fifth-placed finisher Kimi Antonelli and 17th-placed Ollie Bearman both picked up penalties for those infringements, but neither of them lost any places as a result.
Leclerc's penalty means that Mercedes outscored Ferrari by 16 points rather than 14 – both comfortably above the three-point gap the Silver Arrows needed to secure the constructors' title.
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | WINNER |
| 2 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +14.602s |
| 3 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | +24.485s |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | +33.991s |
| 5 | Kimi Antonelli* | Mercedes | +41.017s |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | +56.475s |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | +1:15.402s |
| 8 | Charles Leclerc** | Ferrari | +1:18.586s |
| 9 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +1 LAP |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | +1 LAP |
| 11 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | +1 LAP |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | +1 LAP |
| 13 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | +1 LAP |
| 14 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | +1 LAP |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams | +1 LAP |
| 16 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | +1 LAP |
| 17 | Oliver Bearman*** | Haas | +1 LAP |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | +1 LAP |
| 19 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | +2 LAPS |
| 20 | Rafael Camara | Haas | +2 LAPS |
| NC | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | DNF |
| NC | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | DNS |
*Kimi Antonelli took a five-second penalty for an unsafe release.
**Leclerc dropped from seventh to eighth post-race thanks to a five-second penalty for causing a collision with Liam Lawson.
***Ollie Bearman took a five-second penalty for an unsafe release.