Piastri was handed a 10-second time penalty and two super licence points for causing a collision that ended Leclerc’s race, with stewards deeming him “wholly responsible” after locking up into Turn 1 at the Safety Car restart.

Contact between Piastri and Antonelli pushed the Mercedes into Leclerc’s Ferrari, forcing the Monegasque to retire on the spot.

Despite the verdict, Leclerc himself said he did not believe the Australian was entirely to blame.

“Oscar was optimistic, but Kimi knew that Oscar was on the inside, I think,” Leclerc told Sky Sports F1.

“And he kind of did the corner like Oscar was never there. And for me, the blame is not all on Oscar.

“Yes, it was optimistic, but this could have been avoided. I’m frustrated.

“At the end of the day I’m not angry with any of Oscar or Kimi, these things happen.

“But yeah, I wouldn’t go as far as saying that it’s all of Oscar’s fault. I don’t think it is.”

 

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Sky Sports F1 analyst Jamie Chadwick echoed that sentiment, arguing that Antonelli could have done more to avoid the contact.

“At this point it’s a three into one doesn’t go, but I think it can go. It just requires a huge amount of awareness from all three drivers,” she said.

“The person that hasn’t necessarily used all the room available to him is Kimi for me. And so I actually am on the sort of side of where I think Oscar has been hard done by here.”

Chadwick added that Piastri had little room to avoid the incident, backing his post-race explanation that he “couldn’t disappear.”

“He’s not, in my opinion, locked up because he’s out of control,” she said.

“He’s locked up because he’s seen Kimi turning in a bit on him and his natural reaction is to press the brake paddle a little bit harder, turn as much left as you can to get as close to the white line, causing that lockup.

“But for me, even with the lockup, he’s still as far to the white line as he can be and still hasn’t been given the room by Kimi.”

Antonelli, who went on to finish on the podium, said he tried to leave enough space but lost sight of Piastri in the braking zone.

“I got some wheelspin, a bit too aggressive on power,” he said.

“I was trying to cover Charles, but then I saw Piastri coming. It wasn’t the best position to be in.

“I tried to leave space to Charles and then try not to close excessively on the inside. Because when I braked I didn’t see Piastri anymore.

“But then obviously he locked up and he started to miss the apex and then he hit me. It was a big hit, to be fair. Just a shame to end Charles’ race.”

The stewards’ report stated Piastri “did not establish the required overlap” on Antonelli’s car before the apex, meaning the move did not meet the criteria for a clean inside overtake.

Their ruling read: “Piastri locked the brakes as he attempted to avoid contact by slowing, but was unable to do so and made contact with Antonelli.

“This contact caused Antonelli to make secondary contact with car 16 (Leclerc), who was positioned on the outside and was forced to retire from the race as a result.

“Piastri was therefore wholly responsible for the collision.”

Piastri stood by his decision to go for the move, saying after the race he had “nowhere to go.”

The penalty cost Piastri a likely second-place finish, leaving him fifth at the flag and 24 points behind teammate Lando Norris in the championship.