Charles Leclerc lays blame after race-ending Brazilian GP clash

Charles Leclerc has pinned the blame for his Brazilian GP retirement on Kimi Antonelli as much as Oscar Piastri a Lap 6 clash between the pair.

Leclerc was eliminated from the race after Piastri looked to move underneath the Mercedes driver, making contact that ultimately push it into the Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc insists Kimi Antonelli at fault for Brazilian GP retirement

Ferrari endured a double retirement in Interlagos after Lewis Hamilton stopped after suffering early floor damage while Leclerc was forced out after his front-left wheel was tagged by a sideways Antonelli.

The Monegasque pulled his stricken machine to a halt at the end of the back straight on Lap 6, a disappointing conclusion to a race in which he’d been an early podium contender.

Leclerc had been the innocent victim as Antonelli’s Mercedes slid up into his car, plucking the front-left tyre from the wheel as Piastri attempted to slither up the inside.

For his part in the clash, Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty in race, with two penalty points applied to his license after officials deemed the McLaren driver had not satisfied the racing guidelines when it comes to overtaking on the inside of a corner.

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Those guidelines state that the overtaking car must have its front axle at least alongside the mirror of the car to its outside, and must be driven in a ‘fully controlled’ manner.

While alongside heading into the corner, Piastri was slipping back in comparison to Antonelli when they made contact, and pinched his brakes as he turned into the left-hander.

That was sufficient for officials to deem the Australian at fault for the incident, though Leclerc doesn’t agree from he’d seen of replays on the big screen following his retirement.

“It’s a shame. Collateral damage of an incident between Oscar and Kimi where, in my opinion, Kimi was as much to blame as Oscar,” Leclerc said.

“For me, it’s a bit of a 50:50 incident; Oscar being optimistic, Kimi doing the corner like Oscar was never there. That means they collided and touched me.

“Very frustrating considering we are fighting for the second in the Constructors’ Championship, we are the only ones not finishing the race today.”

With neither Leclerc nor Hamilton reaching the flag, and with Mercedes matching McLaren’s 43 points from the event and Red Bull adding 20, Ferrari has slipped to fourth in the teams’ standings after Brazil.

Mercedes now holds 398 points in that competition versus Red Bull’s 366 and Ferrari’s 362, with three races and one sprint remaining.

Read next: Oscar Piastri handed additional penalty after Antonelli clash