Explained: Why was Charles Leclerc not penalised for making contact with Max Verstappen during F1 Spanish GP

Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen had minor contact at the safety car restart during the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix. However, FIA stewards left Leclerc off the hook without a penalty, which allowed him to retain a podium finish at P3.

The incident occurred on lap 61, where the safety car deployed due to Kimi Antonelli's DNF, exited the track. At restart, Verstappen had massive oversteer while trying to heat the hard tire compound at the final corner.

His fumble encouraged Leclerc, who was on fresh soft tires, to overtake the Red Bull driver on the main straight. The Ferrari pulled up alongside Verstappen and drifted towards his left, leading to a minor collision.

The four-time world champion demanded a penalty for Leclerc, citing an unnecessary move. However, FIA noted the incident and summoned both drivers after the session for an investigation.

In an official ruling released by stewards, both Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc moved towards each other during wheel-to-wheel racing, causing a collision, and no one was predominantly to blame. Moreover, both drivers admitted that the collision was avoidable.

Hence, with no clear fault of Leclerc alone and minimal damage caused due to the crash, FIA not only decided not to penalise Charles but also left Verstappen off the hook. The crash was judged as a racing incident with no action required.

With that ruling, Leclerc retained his P3 podium finish, whereas Verstappen ran out of luck to finish P10. After contact with the Monegasque, the Dutchman also had a crash with George Russell. The FIA found Verstappen at fault and handed him a 10-second time penalty, which dropped him from P5 to P10.

For Leclerc, the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix brought lots of positives as he was quicker. However, challenging the McLarens is still an uphill task for Ferrari.

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Charles Leclerc downplays crash with Max Verstappen

Charles Leclerc with Max Verstappen at the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia - Source: Getty

Meanwhile, in a post-race interview, Charles Leclerc defended his actions in the collision with Max Verstappen at lap 61 of the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix. He argued that he simply tried to slipstream Lando Norris’s McLaren and felt the contact was insignificant.

Talking to The Race, Leclerc said:

"There was nothing special—I overtook on the inside, he tried to squeeze me to the dirty side of the track, and then I had the upper hand because I had more speed because of the mistake he had made. And then I was trying to take the slipstream of the McLaren [of Lando Norris], went a tiny bit to the left, and he didn't seem to want to move at all—and we touched a little bit. But there was nothing special."

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari managed to convince the FIA that the former wasn't to be blamed alone for the incident. Hence, the mutual contact allowed Leclerc to escape the penalty and retain P3.