Charles Leclerc escaped a sporting sanction during free practice for the Monaco Grand Prix, despite being summoned before the stewards for impeding Liam Lawson. The Ferrari driver, however, received an official warning.
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After already being summoned on Thursday for being late to the official FIA press conference, Charles Leclerc found himself once again before the stewards this Friday in Monaco.
The Monegasque driver was under investigation after impeding Liam Lawson on the approach to Turn 18 during the first free practice session.
Despite this incident, the Ferrari driver avoided any sporting penalty and retained the best time of the session in front of his home crowd.
A radio confusion at the origin of the incident
In their report, the stewards explained that the problem stemmed from a misunderstanding between Leclerc and his race engineer Bryan Bozzi.
According to the radio exchanges analyzed by the FIA, Ferrari informed its driver that he had a three-second lead over Oliver Bearman and a five-second lead over Lawson. Leclerc, however, interpreted this information differently.
The stewards specified that the Monegasque reasonably believed there was a five-second gap between Bearman and Lawson, whereas only two seconds actually separated the two drivers.
This misunderstanding led Ferrari to place its car on Lawson’s trajectory at the wrong moment.
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A simple warning for Ferrari
Given the circumstances, the FIA chose not to impose a more severe sanction.
The stewards particularly noted that Ferrari acknowledged the error and committed to modifying its communication procedures to prevent a similar situation from recurring.
The incident therefore resulted in an official warning for Leclerc, with no consequences for the rest of his Monaco weekend.
Lindblad also reprimanded
At the same time, Arvid Lindblad also received a warning after impeding Oscar Piastri in Turn 12.
The FIA deemed that a misinterpretation of the information transmitted by his team had contributed to the incident, while warning that future similar errors could lead to much more severe penalties.
For Leclerc as for Lindblad, Monaco therefore begins with a reprimand rather than a real punishment, but the stewards clearly indicated that their leniency would not necessarily be repeated.
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