Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was demoted three places on the grid for Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix after the race stewards ruled he had impeded another driver at the end of qualifying.
Leclerc, a Monaco native, was found to have blocked McLaren’s Lando Norris during Saturday’s qualifying session.
Frenchman Esteban Ocon in an Alpine, moved up to third on the grid while Spaniard Carlos Sainz, in the second Ferrari, was promoted to the second row and Briton Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes moved up to fifth.
BREAKING: Charles Leclerc has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Norris#MonacoGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/WYHxofm52k— Formula 1 (@F1) May 27, 2023
“Leclerc had finished his final lap of Q3,” said the stewards in their report. “Norris was on a fast lap and caught Leclerc in the middle of the tunnel and was clearly impeded.”
“Both drivers agreed that there was little that Leclerc could have safely done in the tunnel to avoid impeding Norris, given the difficulty in vision due to the light entering and in the tunnel,” said the report, adding that “Leclerc reacted in a sensible way.”
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