Binotto explains Leclerc incident: "It was really borderline"

The tear-off that Charles Leclerc got in his brake and which prompted a very early pit stop, may have come from Max Verstappen. A sensor was damaged and Leclerc drove one kilometre per hour too fast in the pit lane, resulting in a five-second time penalty. Mattia Binotto explains.

Leclerc unlucky with offence

"It was really really borderline, I think it was by 0.1km/h in the average speed in the pitlane, unlucky," Binotto is quoted as saying by The Race. The Ferrari team boss then explained that the usual sensor had failed due to overheating, which was caused by the tear-off in the brake. "Our recovery strategy maybe was not so accurate for this 0.1km/h," he admits.

The Italian called it an 'unfortunate situation' that Leclerc lost a place because of the time penalty, but felt Ferrari had to take a chance to possibly score an extra point. Binotto seemed to indicate that the tear-off came from Verstappen and the footage seems to indicate that too, but there is no way to be completely sure.