Post-race rulings from the FIA reshaped the final order of the Miami Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc dropped to P8 after a 20 second time penalty for repeatedly leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Leclerc had been battling Oscar Piastri for fourth on the final lap before spinning at Turn 3 and hitting the barriers. Although he continued, the Ferrari driver cut multiple chicanes on his way to the flag, crossing the line in sixth before being overtaken by George Russell and Max Verstappen in the closing corners.

The FIA stewards explained: “Car 16 spun on the last lap at turn 3 and hit the wall but continued on track. 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 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.”

They added that no further action was taken regarding a potential mechanical infringement: “We determined that there was no evidence of there being an obvious or discernible mechanical issue.”

Leclerc’s penalty dropped him behind team mate Lewis Hamilton and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.

Verstappen and Russell incident

Separately, the stewards confirmed that Verstappen and Russell would face no action for their late race contact, with both drivers viewing it as a “minor racing incident”.

Verstappen did, however, receive a five second penalty for crossing the white line at the pit exit after his stop. The decision came after the race due to limited initial footage.

Explaining the delay, the stewards said: “When the incident occurred there was limited video evidence to make a clear decision on whether an infringement had occurred.

“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.

“The new angles did show more views of the pit exit line and the incident in question… The Stewards determined that the outside of the front left hand tyre did cross the outside of the solid white pit exit line.”

Despite the penalty, Verstappen retained fifth place thanks to a comfortable gap to the cars behind, while the final classification reflected the late intervention from race control.