Ferrari were slapped with a €25,000 fine and Charles Leclerc received a 10-second time penalty after parts of his broken front wing fell off and hit Lewis Hamilton’s car during the Japanese Grand Prix.

Team radio messages from the incident reveal Leclerc did not follow the team’s first instruction to come into the pits. Ferrari then cancelled another order for him to pit on the subsequent lap.

As a result, Leclerc did two laps of Suzuka with parts falling off his SF90. As well as destroying Hamilton’s right-hand wing mirror, more debris from Leclerc’s car ruined Lando Norris’s race when it lodged in the McLaren’s brake duct, causing his brakes to overheat.

Leclerc sustained the damage when he collided with Max Verstappen at turn two on the first lap of the race. He quickly realised he had damage but he did not think it would affect his lap times too much.

“Only the front wing was damaged,” said Leclerc after the race. “Visually, the left parts of the car seemed a bit damaged. From the driver point of view I was losing a little bit more the front but overall I don’t think it was costing too much, mostly because it was giving understeer.”

However teams also understand they must bring a car in if loose parts present a potential risk to other drivers. Ferrari did call Leclerc in, but did not tell him to until he was almost at the pit lane entrance, and did not say whether it was for reasons of performance or safety. Instead of complying, Leclerc queried the order:

Lap Exchange Message (notes in italics) 1 To Hamilton: We think Leclerc has front wing damage. 1 Leclerc: I’ve got damage. 1 To Leclerc: Copy, we are checking it. 1 To Hamilton: So Leclerc’s damage is to the left-hand side of his car. He may jettison some components. 1 To Leclerc: Turning into apex of turn 15.

Box now, box. 1 Leclerc: Passing pit lane exit.

Why? 2 Leclerc: Start/finish straight.

Why, it was too late. 2 To Leclerc: Copy, understood.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto confirmed Leclerc chose not to pit because he didn’t think the front wing damage was costing him too much time.

“Charles is the one that is driving and can feel the car, how it behaves,” said Binotto. “From outside we saw that the wing was broken so it would have to [be] changed at some stage. But at that stage he felt he’d got still the right pace [and] stayed out.”

Leclerc therefore began lap two with his car still damaged. Hamilton, behind him, had already complained about the danger this presented, and as he approached 130R on lap two he was showered by parts as Leclerc’s front-left end plate disintegrated.

At the same time Leclerc was preparing to tackle the high-speed 130R left-hander with only one hand on the steering wheel, as he used the other to hold his damaged left-hand wing mirror in place. Remarkably, at the same time he was also querying whether the team still wanted him to pit.

Once again Ferrari came back with a late instruction, and this time it was to stay out again:

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Lap Exchange Message (notes in italics) 2 Hamilton: Parts fall off Leclerc’s car on the start/finish straight.

It’s dangerous, parts are flying out. 2 To Hamilton: Exit of turn two.

Copy Lewis, don’t take any risks. 2 Leclerc: Approaching Degner one.

Why don’t we continue a little bit more? 2 Hamilton: Exiting Degner Two.

It could fall off at any point. 2 To Hamilton: Copy, Lewis. 2 To Leclerc: Approaching turn 10.

We need to box this lap, box. 2 Leclerc: Exit of hairpin.

Copy box but just to let you know the car doesn’t feel that bad. I know it probably looks bad but the car is quite OK. 2 Hamilton: Check engine, I’m getting drop-outs. 2 Leclerc: Straight between Spoon and 130R. Parts fall off Leclerc’s car, hitting Hamilton’s car.

Do you confirm for me to box? 2 To Leclerc: Leclerc approaches 130R and drives through it with his right-hand off the steering wheel as he holds his left-hand mirror in place.

We need to box now, box, confirm. 2 Hamilton: Exit of 130R.

Damn, shit came off. Lost a wing, a wing mirror. 2 To Leclerc: Braking zone for chicane.

Stay out, stay out, stay out. 3 To Leclerc: Start/finish straight.

Stay out.

This appears to be the point at which the FIA intervened.

“The FIA asked us for safety reasons simply to come in and we immediately accepted the decision,” said Binotto. “But anyway the stewards realised that maybe we should have come earlier and we have been penalised for that as well.”

FIA race director Michael Masi confirmed he was told Ferrari would pit Leclerc. When this didn’t happen, and personally ordered Ferrari to bring the damaged car in.

“I was originally advised that they would be pitting the car,” he said. “They then chose not to. And then subsequently they were instructed, Ferrari were instructed, to pit Charles’s car.”

This happened even though the most damaged part of Leclerc’s wing had fallen off. “Obviously we couldn’t confirm if there was was going to be anything else that was going to come off which they subsequently did,” Masi added.

He admitted he was “more than slightly annoyed from a safety perspective” that Ferrari hadn’t brought Leclerc in more quickly.

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Lap Exchange Message (notes in italics) 3 To Leclerc: And SOC 6 when you can, SOC 6. 3 Hamilton: How he’s not been given a warning flag I don’t know. 3 To Hamilton: Copy Lewis, it’s been said to race control. 3 To Hamilton: So DRS has been enabled. 3 To Leclerc: Straight between Spoon and 130R. Leclerc lets go of his mirror before reaching 130R this time.

And box now, box, we need to box this lap. 4 Leclerc: Leclerc pits.

I… It was quite OK. 4 To Leclerc: We needed to change it so change the nose.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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2019 F1 season