Charles Leclerc expected Japan penalty after watching footage of front wing damage

Charles Leclerc has revealed he expected to be handed a penalty after he saw the damage to his front-wing from outside the cockpit. The Ferrari driver tangled with Max Verstappen in the opening exchanges of the Japanese Grand Prix which caused part of his front wing to hang-off and eventually break into a thousand pieces. At the time, Leclerc was certain the problem wasn't that bad. 

Leclerc was ordered to pit but refused because he didn't think the issues were that bad. After reviewing the footage for the first time, the man from Monaco knew a penalty was coming his way. 

"Actually, I was quite expecting it once I arrived in the stewards room and I saw the images. It would have been wrong to not get a penalty for that," Leclerc said in a conversation with RaceFans.net. 

"We [Leclerc and Verstappen] had a small discussion before we went into the stewards room. He knew I had done a mistake and these things happen."

Leclerc and Verstappen will continue to battle over the next decade. But for now, they're both battling each other for third place in the F1 drivers' championship. Going into the final four races, Leclerc leads Verstappen by 11 points.