Charles Leclerc retires with damage from Brazil Grand Prix as Oscar Piastri receives penalty
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has retired from the 2025 Brazilian Grand Prix following contact on lap six of the Interlagos race. After sustaining heavy damage to the front-left corner of the car, the Monegasque was forced to stop.
This came just moments after Gabriel Bortoleto crashed, forcing a safety car, and Leclerc’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton pitted after receiving damage when he hit the rear-end of Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
Leclerc’s incident began as the field returned to race pace after the Brazilian’s crash. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri dived down the inside of Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli before the pair made contact. Antonelli swerved to the outside of the circuit, where he hit Leclerc.
“He left me no space,” Piastri noted to his race engineer.
With substantial damage to his suspension, the Ferrari ace was forced to come to a stop as a virtual safety car was deployed, resulting in a DNF for the driver.
“Ferocious. Leclerc lost a tyre like a Polo mint,” Martin Brundle said on the Sky Sports F1 coverage. “The stewards will be looking hard at Piastri’s contact.”
Indeed, Piastri has received a 10-second time penalty.
“Norris was nine tenths quicker than Piastri on that first post-VSC lap,” Brundle continued.
“What McLaren need to do is get Piastri 10 seconds ahead of Antonelli if he gets a penalty for that Antonelli contact.
“And it’s working out for Williams – Albon and Sainz run ninth and 10th after navigating that early chaos.”
It’s been a tough weekend for Ferrari with Hamilton struggling throughout the whole weekend and Leclerc not able to translate his impressive qualifying into a podium finish.
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