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Lewis Hamilton shocked by Charles Leclerc’s Miami Grand Prix result after late error

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Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc hit the wall and lost two places in a dramatic end to the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.

Leclerc made yet another scintillating start from third, storming into the lead as Kimi Antonelli went wide and Max Verstappen spun.

The Monegasque was then overtaken by Antonelli and McLaren’s Lando Norris, and he questioned the timing of his pit stop. Leclerc regained third place from early stopper Verstappen before Oscar Piastri closed in.

A disappointing day for Ferrari…

Are you worried about this result after their major upgrade?

Charles Leclerc drives the Ferrari F1 car at the Miami Grand Prix
Photo by Hector Vivas – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton surprised to hear Charles Leclerc finished sixth at Miami Grand Prix

Shortly after Piastri passed Leclerc for P3, the 28-year-old spun in the first sector and tagged the wall, causing significant damage to his car.

Leclerc had a comfortable gap over George Russell and Max Verstappen, but that advantage was wiped out as he tried to hobble to the chequered flag.

Russell and Verstappen both got ahead at the end of the lap, completing Leclerc’s late collapse.

Even Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, who crossed the line seventh, sounded surprised to hear the sister car’s position.

Hamilton asked engineer Carlo Santi: “Who won the race?”

Santi replied: “Antonelli won the race. Then Norris, Piastri, Russell, Verstappen and Charles.”

Hamilton then asked: “What happened to Charles?”

And Santi explained: “There was a bit of a fight at the end, he touched the wall, he was fighting and he lost a few positions.”

Charles Leclerc gets penalty after Miami Grand Prix

After the race, the FIA confirmed that Leclerc was under investigation for leaving the track multiple times without justification and driving in an unsafe condition after bumping the barriers.

A severe 20-second penalty, equivalent to a drive-through, demoted him to P8 behind his teammate and the Alpine of Franco Colapinto.

That means Ferrari will only collect 10 points from the race, a hugely disappointing return given the scale of their upgrade package for this weekend.

Ferrari believed they could threaten Mercedes with their Miami innovations, but Antonelli was already a pit stop clear of Leclerc by the time he made the mistake. It’s too early to call the expansive package a failure, but it has not met initial expectations.