- Charles Leclerc spins on the final lap, costing Ferrari a Miami GP podium.
- A calculated gamble on the penultimate lap unravels on the last lap.
- Stewards added 20 seconds, dropping Leclerc from sixth to eighth.
Charles Leclerc spun his Ferrari into the wall on the final lap of the 2026 Miami Grand Prix and threw away a certain podium finish.
The Monegasque driver, who had run in third place for much of the race, ended up eighth after a post-race penalty added 20 seconds to his time. He accepted full responsibility afterwards.
Leclerc had controlled his race well through 56 laps before the error. He took the lead at the start when polesitter Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen both locked up into Turn 1.
An early Safety Car, deployed following incidents involving Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly, shuffled the order.
Leclerc eventually settled into third after a pit stop on lap 22 dropped him behind George Russell, though he later recovered the place and overtook Verstappen.
Four corners that changed everything
His troubles began in the final two laps. With Oscar Piastri pressing him for third, Leclerc chose to wave the Australian through between Turns 16 and 17.
His plan was to use his car’s battery boost on the final lap to reclaim the position. Exiting Turn 3 on that last lap, he spun. The Ferrari struck the left-hand side wall.
“I’m pretty sure there was a puncture, there was probably some suspension damage as well, as I couldn’t really turn to the right anymore,” Leclerc told Motorsport.com after the race.
The damage was severe enough to strip him of any ability to defend his position. Russell and Verstappen went past him in the closing corners, and Leclerc crossed the line in sixth.
Leclerc: “I put a very strong race in the bin”
He did not look for excuses when he spoke to Sky Sports F1. “It’s all on me, and I don’t have much to add other than that,” he said.
He described letting Piastri through as a poor call that triggered the collapse.
“I pushed very hard on the second-to-last lap. I thought it was a good idea to kind of let Oscar go for me to get the overtake,” he said.
“I knew it was going to be very difficult to stay in front otherwise. But it was a very poor decision. And in the space of four corners, I put a very strong race in the bin. So I’m very frustrated about that.”
Speaking to Formula1.com, he said the mistake fell below his own standards.
“I’m very disappointed with myself, mistakes happen, but on the last lap of the race like that, it’s frustrating and not the level where I should be at.”
He also spoke to Motorsport.com about whether the car’s energy deployment system played a role. He did not rule it out entirely, but refused to use it as cover.
“Maybe there was a bit more out of that corner as you just need to finish the lap with that amount of energy,” he said. “But that’s not an excuse in any way. It’s all on me, and it’s not acceptable.”
The penalty that followed
The stewards summoned Leclerc for three separate potential offences: driving a damaged car in an unsafe condition, leaving the track and gaining an advantage on multiple occasions, and a collision with Russell at the final hairpin.
They found against him on the track limits charge, ruling that he had left the circuit and gained an advantage without justification.
On the unsafe car charge, however, they took no further action, stating there was “no evidence of there being an obvious or discernible mechanical issue.”
The drive-through penalty, applied after the race, converted into a 20-second time addition and dropped Leclerc from sixth to eighth, behind teammate Lewis Hamilton and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
He had hoped for leniency.
“The thing I can say is that I did my best to try to make the corners, first of all,” he told Sky Sports F1. “It was probably a lot more difficult than what it looked from outside.”
What it cost Leclerc
The gap between a podium and eighth place represents a steep loss of championship points. He gained just four points when he could have scored a maximum of 15.
The damage was self-made. No mechanical failure, no strategy error, no misfortune with a Safety Car. A single decision on the penultimate lap led directly to everything that followed.
Leclerc acknowledged the damage but tried to keep it in context. He told Formula1.com that his season had been largely clean to that point.
“It’s been a very strong start to the season, not many mistakes,” he said. “This one luckily didn’t cost us too many points, but it could have ended in the wall. It’s a shame.”
The question now is whether Sunday’s error in Miami stays as a one-off.
