Charles Leclerc hit with Brazil GP penalty for Liam Lawson collision

Charles Leclerc has been hit with a five-second penalty for colliding with Liam Lawson in the closing stages of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. 

Leclerc made contact with Lawson as he attempted an overtake at Juncao as they battled over seventh place in the final laps of the rain-affected race at Interlagos. 

While the Ferrari driver did not immediately get past Lawson, he did successfully overtake the Racing Bulls racer at the start of the next lap to snatch P7.

However, Leclerc has lost the position due to his penalty, which sees him drop one place to eighth, ahead of Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton who finished ninth. 

Leclerc crossed the line just 1.816 seconds clear of Lawson at the end of the 71-lap race. 

The stewards said: "While the contact was minor and Car 30 (Lawson) was able to maintain the lead thereafter, the driver of Car 30 claimed that the contact damaged the rear left rim of his car and also enabled Car 16 (Leclerc) to get closer to him on track and then eventually overtake him 5 corners later.

"Furthermore, under the Driving Standard Guidelines, Car 30 had the right to the corner and it was for Car 16 to take the necessary steps to avoid a collision. The driver of Car 16 claimed that it was a minor contact with no obvious sporting consequence. 

"While we acknowledge that the contact was minor, having examined the fight on track between the two cars, we conclude that Car 16 was able to get closer to and thereafter overtake Car 30 because of the contact. 

"The contact clearly disrupted Car 30 and allowed Car 16 to pull up alongside when it was further away before the contact. 

"This was an obvious sporting consequence. In mitigation, the wet conditions coupled with the nature of the contact (ie minor) was taken into account in imposing a 5 second time penalty as opposed to a 10 second time penalty."

Leclerc had downplayed the incident after the race, saying: "It was on the limit but it's part of racing for me. Then I only learned now that I was under investigation, I didn't know. For me it was fun racing but maybe others don't think so."