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Charles Leclerc has been hit with a three-place grid drop for the Monaco Grand Prix after being found guilty of impeding Lando Norris during qualifying.
The McLaren was on a fast lap late in the top-10 shoot-out when he was baulked by Ferrari’s Leclerc through the tunnel.
On home soil, Leclerc went on to grab third on the grid behind a front row of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso in his Aston Martin, with Norris finishing 10th.
The stewards have now punished Leclerc with a penalty which will see him start his home race sixth, and have criticised Ferrari for not providing their driver with the relevant information to negotiate the situation.
Their decision pushes Alpine’s Esteban Ocon up to third, with Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz now starting fourth and Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes fifth.
A stewards’ report read: “Leclerc had finished his final lap of Q3 and was in the Turn-4-through-Turn-10 complex. 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 into 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-place grid drop”.
Offering a degree of insight into the stewards’ meeting, in particular with regard to Ferrari’s team radio messages, Norris said: “With Charles’ incident, it’s always tough around here. He did ruin my lap.
“I think he did what he could but when you listen to the team radio, they’re just telling him about Verstappen’s lap, giving him live updates, rather than concentrating on who’s behind him. I don’t really understand. But it is what it is.”
