Three-place penalty for Charles Leclerc in Monaco

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc’s struggles at home have been compounded as he was awarded a three-place grid penalty for the Monaco Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc on track during qualifying in Monaco. (Pirelli)

The stewards judged that the Monegasque had impeded McLaren driver Lando Norris during qualifying on Saturday, dropping Leclerc from third on the grid.

Esteban Ocon will now start third for Alpine, with Carlos Sainz to carry Ferrari’s hopes from fourth on the grid. Lewis Hamilton is up to fifth, with Leclerc to now start the grand prix from sixth.

“Leclerc had finished his final lap of Q3 and was in the Turn 4 through Turn 10 complex,” said the FIA stewards.

“Norris was on a fast lap and caught Leclerc in the middle of the tunnel and was clearly impeded.”

“Both drivers agreed that there was little that Leclerc could have safely done in the tunnel to avoid impeding Norris, given the difficulty in vision due to the light entering and in the tunnel and the change of lines from one side of the tunnel to the other.

“In fact, the stewards observed that Leclerc reacted in a sensible way to a blue flag displayed by the marshals, but at this point it was too late. However, the stewards reviewed team radio, and Leclerc’s team failed to give him any warning about Norris’ approach until Norris was already directly behind him.

“Further, the discussion during the preceding portion of the track was entirely about competing drivers, not the traffic behind, which is a critical task at this track.

“The stewards believe that there is much that Leclerc could have done prior to the tunnel to avoid the impeding had he received warning from the team at an appropriate time, especially considering that Norris’ approach was clear on the marshalling system.

“Thus, the stewards consider that the impeding was unnecessary. The stewards reviewed all the preceding unnecessarily impeding penalties in the past few years.

“In every case, the actions, or inaction of the team did not mitigate the unnecessary impeding. Thus the stewards impose the usual penalty of a three grid drop.”

Max Verstappen will lead the field away to start the Formula One Grand Prix de Monaco at 11pm on Sunday (AEST).

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