Charles Leclerc admitted he deserved to be given the penalty which saw him dropped to third place at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Monegasque crossed the line second on Sunday, after appearing to hold off the charging Sergio Perez on the final lap. But almost immediately after the race finished, the stewards slapped him with a five-second time penalty for the manner in which he defended that place.
It meant he was dropped to third place on the podium, and Perez completed a one-two for Red Bull at the end of a truncated race due to heavy rain at Suzuka. It also had larger repercussions, as dropping a place meant Leclerc could no longer catch Max Verstappen in the drivers' standings – handing him the 2022 title.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto, who did not travel to Japan, was furious with the decision. "How fast the FIA took the decision to sanction Leclerc, it is ridiculous and unacceptable. Last race it took them an infinite number of laps to take a nonsense decision. We will protest in the appropriate offices," he told Sky Italy.
But his own driver is not so sure that it would be worth appealing against. Giving his own reaction to the punishment, Leclerc admitted that he deserved to be given the penalty after cutting a corner while trying to keep Perez behind him.
"Well, I don't have much to say," he told reporters. "I did a mistake and tried to minimise it by trying to go straight. I was not aware this was the last lap but the five-second penalty was the right thing to do be honest."
Leclerc was not as competitive as he would have liked at Suzuka. It wasn't long after the restart, following the early red flag, until Verstappen left him behind as the Red Bull racer zoomed off into the distance.
"Well, from lap five onwards to be honest, it was all downhill, really struggling with the tyres," said the Ferrari racer. "A bit like the last race, no? We are very strong warming up the tyres but then after three, four laps we just destroy them. So yeah, a struggle this time.
"A huge congratulations of course to Max for his second world championship. We'll keep pushing until the end. It's obviously frustrating. The pace was not quite there after four laps. But it's like this."
