Update: Leclerc handed five-second penalty for Lawson contact

The São Paulo Grand Prix stewards imposed a five-second time penalty on Charles Leclerc after finding that Car 16 made contact with Liam Lawson’s Car 30 at Turn 12 during the race. They said the penalty was added to Leclerc’s elapsed race time and that the contact breached Appendix L, Chapter IV, Article 2(d) of the FIA International Sporting Code.

Lawson told the stewards the contact damaged his rear-left rim and helped Leclerc close and pass him; Leclerc said the contact was minor and had no obvious sporting consequence. After reviewing positioning/marshalling-system data, video and in-car footage, the stewards concluded the contact disrupted Lawson and enabled Leclerc to close and overtake.

The stewards cited the wet conditions and minor nature of the contact as mitigation, imposing five seconds rather than 10. The decision document notes that certain stewards’ decisions may be appealed under FIA rules within the applicable time limits.

This is a new report following our earlier article.

The stewards found the contact had a sporting consequence by helping Leclerc close on and pass Lawson. They cited its minor nature and the wet conditions as mitigation in setting the penalty at five rather than 10 seconds.