Leclerc believes that getting a five-second penalty for jumping the final chicane while fighting Perez in the Japanese GP was 'the right thing to do'. F1
Under braking into the Casio Triangle on the final lap, Leclerc ran deep and cut over the kerbs when rejoining the track ahead of Perez. He crossed the line three-tenths of a second ahead of Perez.
But the stewards swiftly ruled that Leclerc had gone off-track and gained an advantage, resulting in a five-second penalty that dropped him behind Perez to third. It also meant race winnerFerrari team boss Mattia Binotto said he was"very surprised" and"very disappointed" by the decision, particularly as Leclerc did not have the opportunity to argue his case with the stewards. But Leclerc felt the penalty was fair."I was not aware this was the last lap.
Following the rain delay, Leclerc struggled to keep up with Verstappen on the restart, eventually crossing the line over 26 seconds behind after 28 laps. Leclerc said he was"very fast for four or five laps" before his front tyres struggled with degradation, causing him to slip back into Perez's clutches.
"It was all about trying to survive until the end of the race," said Leclerc."The end of the race was extremely difficult. Obviously Checo was putting quite a bit of pressure behind and I was really, really struggling with both of my front tyres.
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