Leclerc loses P7 finish in sprint after track limits penalty

Charles Leclerc was hit with a 5-second penalty after Saturday’s sprint event at Lusail, a sanction levied upon the Ferrari driver for four track limit infringements.

Leclerc had finished the 19-lap race 7th on the road but was pushed out of the points and dropped to P12 due to the time penalty.

The Monegasque’s demotion elevates Williams Alex Albon – who frequently complained during the race about Leclerc’s transgressions – to 7th while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso inherited P8, the final points-paying position.

Leclerc wasn’t the only driver punished for track limit infringements, with Lance Stroll also handed a post-race 5-second penalty for four breaches.

However, the Canadian’s penalty was inconsequential, dropping him from 13th to 15th in the final classification.

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Like his Scuderia teammate Carlos Sainz, who finished the sprint in sixth position, Leclerc attempted to execute his sprint race on the soft tyre. But as graining kicked in, the gamble failed to pay off, regardless of the penalty.

“We lost out towards the end,” he said. “I think we were also quite lucky there were that many Safety Cars. But at the end we knew that it was going to be a difficult race.”

“With the soft it was very tricky at the end. The start was good, the first few laps were good but then after that we knew it was going to be a bit more difficult compared to the medium runners, which was the case.”

Leclerc noted however that opting for the softs in the sprint has left him with an extra set of mediums for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

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