Leclerc takes blame: 'That was the right decision'

Charles Leclerc agrees with the five-second penalty he received at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix. The Monegasque therefore thinks Max Verstappen is the rightful 2022 world champion.

It was chaos all around in the closing stages of the Japanese GP. Sergio Perez was still putting a lot of pressure on Leclerc, which caused the Ferrari driver to make a mistake. Leclerc braked in the final chicane and shot straight ahead. Leclerc kept his second position on the track, but the stewards were quick to judge and gave the Monegasque a five-second penalty even before his interview.

''Yeah, I did a mistake, tried to minimise 'it obviously trying to go straight... I was not aware this was the last lap but five seconds penalty was the right thing to do to be honest" Leclerc said at the post-race press conference.

Leclerc goes against his team boss with this. Mattia Binotto was not happy with the penalty for his driver and was particularly annoyed that the penalty was handed out so quickly, where in Singapore the stewards did not have the penalty ready for Perez until hours after the race. Binotto, however, indicated even then that he would not go into protest.

The respect between Ferrari and Red Bull Racing is too great for that, according to Leclerc's words. ''They've done an incredible job this year. Max was impressive and it's a title fully deserved. And on our side, we'll try and push for the last four races this season to improve as a team and hopefully, we can put up more of a challenge next year'' the Monegasque concluded.