Last-lap spin ‘not acceptable,’ Leclerc admits

Charles Leclerc says his mistake on the final lap of the Miami Grand Prix was unacceptable as he not only lost out on a potential podium but was eventually classified eighth.

Oscar Piastri had just overtaken Leclerc ahead of the start of the final lap, with Leclerc intentionally turning off his straight mode to allow the McLaren by and target a repass on the final lap. However, pushing through the opening sequence of corners the Ferrari driver spun and hit the wall, damaging his car to limp home sixth before being demoted to eighth by post-race penalties.

“I’m pretty sure there was a puncture; there was probably some suspension damage as I couldn’t really turn to the right anymore,” Leclerc said. “So I’m very disappointed in myself – it’s all on me, and it’s a mistake.

“I obviously need to look, because with these cars you always have a bit of a question mark of how much it deploys and considering it’s the last lap, maybe there was a bit more out of that corner as we just need to finish the lap with that amount of energy. But that’s not an excuse in any way, it’s all on me and it’s not acceptable, so I need to look at that.”

Leclerc says he had wanted to let Piastri overtake him in order to get the chance to use extra power on the final lap of the race, and had felt he was strategically playing the fight well before his error.

“I was very calm actually," he said. "I wanted to get the overtake [mode] from Oscar in that last lap, hence why I didn’t make his life too difficult before the last corner for him to overtake me. So I was relatively calm in the car then.

“Of course I pushed like an animal in Turn 3 and most of the time this year it went through – I’ve had quite a few battles this year – but this time it didn’t, and I’m disappointed in myself.

“I think that without the mistake I could have done a podium more than the strategy. I think it’s easy to blame it on the strategy afterward, but even with the best strategy with that mistake on the last lap I probably wouldn’t have been on the podium. So first I’ll look at myself and then surely I’ll speak with the team to try and improve whatever we haven’t optimized.”