Charles Leclerc accepted complete blame for the disastrous conclusion to his Miami Grand Prix, acknowledging that his mistake had effectively "thrown away a very strong race". The Monegasque driver’s weekend began with promise, as he vaulted from the second row of the grid to seize the lead early on. However, an early safety‑car intervention shuffled the order and Leclerc found himself slipping to third place behind Lando Norris and the rookie Kimi Antonelli. Despite the setback, Leclerc fought his way back up the field and, as the race entered its final stages, was sitting in a podium‑contending position.
On the penultimate lap, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri managed to overtake him, dropping the Ferrari driver to fourth place. The tension was palpable as the laps wound down, and Leclerc was determined to claw his way back into the top three.
The drama reached its climax on the very last lap. While navigating Turn Three, Leclerc lost control and collided with the wall, causing visible damage to his SF‑26. Although the car remained operable, the impact compromised its handling, especially on the right‑hand corners.
Leclerc struggled to maintain pace, and over the final two corners he was overtaken by Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, slipping to sixth place. Race officials opened an investigation into Leclerc’s actions after the spin, focusing on whether he had cut the chicane to re‑join the track. After reviewing telemetry and video evidence, the stewards concluded that Leclerc had indeed left the racing line on multiple occasions, gaining a lasting advantage. Rather than a traditional drive‑through, they imposed a 20‑second time penalty, which demoted him two more spots to finish eighth behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
In a post‑race interview with Sky Sports F1, a visibly frustrated Leclerc summed up his feelings: "It’s all on me and I don’t have much to add other than that. Very disappointed with my mistake. It shouldn’t have happened. I pushed very hard on the second‑to‑last lap, thinking it was a good idea to let Oscar go for me to get the overtake.
I knew it would be very difficult to stay in front otherwise, but it was a poor decision and in the space of four corners I put a very strong race in the bin. I’m very frustrated about that." When asked about the condition of his car after the impact, Leclerc explained, "The thing I can say is that I did my best to try to make the corners.
It was probably a lot more difficult than what it looked from outside." He told the stewards that the collision had impaired the car’s ability to negotiate right‑hand turns, but the officials rejected this argument, stating that any mechanical issue did not justify the corner‑cutting that occurred. "We determined that the fact he had to cut the chicanes meant he gained a lasting advantage by leaving the track," the stewards said, adding that the penalty reflected the number of times the car left the racing surface. Ferrari’s overall result was a mixed bag.
While Leclerc finished eighth, his teammate Hamilton crossed the line in seventh, nine seconds behind his compatriot, after battling his own damage from an early‑lap incident with Franco Colapinto. Hamilton, who had already secured seventh place in Saturday’s sprint race, described the weekend as "not a good one at all" and lamented the misfortune that plagued his Sunday run. "Seventh and a seventh, just in no man’s land in both races, but particularly today with the damage," he said.
"There was nothing I could do. Really unfortunate because the team worked so hard. To come away with xx points – we have to move on from here." Hamilton also recounted the chain of events that led to his compromised performance: "I was unlucky with Max spinning at the second corner, I had to go to the right of him.
I had a good Turn One and I was in a good position and then the only way I could go was right. Then I lost positions from there, and then I think it was Franco that hit me, and I lost a lot of performance from there." Looking ahead, the Formula 1 calendar now turns to Montreal for the Canadian Grand Prix, which will also feature a sprint race. Fans can watch the action live on Sky Sports F1 from May 22‑24, with streaming options available through NOW without a long‑term contract. The Miami weekend, though marked by disappointment for Ferrari, provided a stark reminder of how quickly fortunes can change in motorsport and how a single error can erase an otherwise impressive performance.