Verstappen was given a five-second penalty for crossing the pit exit line after his sole pit stop of the 57-lap race.
With limited video footage available initially, FIA stewards elected to investigate the incident post-race.
“When the incident occurred there was limited video evidence to make a clear decision on whether an infringement had occurred,” the stewards report read.
“We therefore decided to investigate the incident after the race, to see if we could get better video evidence of the incident in the meantime, perhaps from other angles.
“We were able to do so. The new angles did show more views of the pit exit line and the incident in question.
“The driver of Car 3 explained that he was driving out of the pit exit and rejoined the race under full course yellow.
“The Stewards determined that the outside of the front left-hand tyre did cross the outside of the solid white pit exit line in violation of Appendix L, Chapter IV Article 6 c) of the International Sporting Code.
“Given the nature of the infraction the Stewards elected to impose a penalty of 5 seconds.”
Verstappen would have lost fifth place to Leclerc if not for the Ferrari driver copping a 20-second penalty for his last lap antics.
The Monegasque driver was stung for leaving the track on several occasions without a justifiable reason.
The penalty demoted Leclerc from sixth to eighth. As a result, teammate Lewis Hamilton was promoted to sixth and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto to seventh.
“Car 16 spun on the last lap at turn 3 and hit the wall but continued on track,” the report read in part.
“The driver informed us that the car appeared fine save that the car would not negotiate the right
hand corners properly.
“Given this problem, he was forced to cut chicanes on the way to the chequered flag.
“We determined that the fact that he had to cut the chicanes (i.e. to leave the track) meant that he gained a lasting advantage by leaving the track in that manner.
“The fact that he had a mechanical issue of some sort did not amount to a justifiable reason.
“We accordingly impose a Drive Through penalty on Car 16, given the number of times the car left the track and gained an advantage.”
Leclerc was also investigated for driving his car in an unsafe condition but was cleared of that infringement.
The Ferrari SF-26 made contact with the parallel wall at Turn 3 after spinning.
“We also considered whether there was an additional breach in continuing to drive a car with an obvious and discernible mechanical issue.
“We determined that there was no evidence of there being an obvious of discernible mechanical issue.
“We therefore took no further action in relation to that potential infringement.”
Contact between Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell at Turn 17 was also investigated and no penalties were given.
The stewards report read: “Both drivers considered the contact to be minor racing incidents and we agreed.”
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