Leclerc suggests Piastri did not ‘deserve all the blame’ for Sao Paulo GP clash as he reflects on ‘frustrating’ DNF

Charles Leclerc believes that Oscar Piastri did not “deserve all the blame” for the Turn 1 collision at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix that saw Piastri’s McLaren hit Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes, which then ran into Leclerc and put the Ferrari out of the race.

As the race was restarted following an early Safety Car phase, Piastri looked to make a move up the inside of Antonelli into the first corner, while Leclerc was also running alongside the pair.

A lock-up from Piastri led to the Australian making contact with Antonelli, whose Silver Arrows machine subsequently knocked the SF-25 of Leclerc. Losing a tyre in the melee, Leclerc was forced to pull off the track and retire on a day that saw Ferrari record a double DNF.

With Piastri and Antonelli both remaining in the Grand Prix, Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision, a punishment that Leclerc did not necessarily agree with when discussing the incident later on.

“I do agree we have a rulebook, and I think the stewards are always trying to do their best to look at the rulebook and to try and understand who is the one to blame,” the Monegasque explained.

“In this case I really think Kimi knew and was aware that Oscar was on the inside. Yes, he was not side-by-side which is the way it’s written in the rulebook, but you cannot really do a corner like nobody is on the inside if someone is on the inside, no matter how far he is.

“So for me it’s a bit more of a 50-50 blame with Kimi and Oscar – I don’t think Oscar deserved all the blame there. But anyway, that doesn’t matter for me – it’s the end of the race which is very frustrating.”

Having started from a promising P3 on the grid – following on from back-to-back podium appearances at the last two rounds in Austin and Mexico – Leclerc was disappointed to miss out on another potential rostrum result.

“I don’t know if there was anything more than a podium, but a podium for sure [was possible],” the 28-year-old conceded. “It’s a shame.”

With both Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton failing to take the chequered flag at Interlagos, Ferrari have now slipped to fourth in the Teams’ Championship, having been overtaken by Mercedes and Red Bull.