Max Verstappen questions lenient Charles Leclerc penalty in parc ferme Lando Norris chat
Max Verstappen appeared to question the F1 stewards lenient decision-making at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen has questioned the F1 stewards’ decision to give Charles Leclerc just a reprimand for his road rage in final practice for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Leclerc was given a reprimand after he veered into Lando Norris’ McLaren during the closing stages of FP3.
It was a needless incident and the stewards felt it was “erratic” but not “dangerous” hence their verdict.
The stewards noted: "The driver of Car 16 stated that he got impeded by Car 4 into Turn 5 and that upset him. He then had to abort his flying lap and contended that, while trying to get off the racing line before Turn 7, he misjudged the position of his car and made slight contact with Car 4.
"Irrespective of any possible intent, the Stewards consider the move made by Car 16, whilst not being dangerous, to be erratic and therefore issue a driving reprimand in line with precedents."
After qualifying, Verstappen and Norris were heard talking about the aforementioned clash in parc ferme.
The following audio was picked up on TV in what was a private exchange between the two drivers that will share the front row of the grid on Sunday.
Verstappen: "It's quite crazy he [Leclerc] got a reprimand."
Norris: “That's what he got?!”
Verstappen: “Yeah, only a reprimand!”
Norris: “My whole front wing was f-cked.”
Verstappen: “I know yeah, crazy.”
Giving his side of the story, Leclerc described it as a “misunderstanding”.
“Yeah, well, I mean the version is very simple,” Leclerc told select media including Crash.net in Barcelona.
“Lando exited the pit lane and I was behind on a push lap. Then when he aborted, I also aborted, I braked to be alongside him and I misjudged.
“So I was on the right, I didn't want to impede either of the cars behind, and so I was a bit in the middle by being frustrated and looking in the mirrors to try and not impede, and then we collided, but it was more misunderstanding more than anything.”
