FIA announce Ferrari punishment at Miami Grand Prix
The (FIA) has taken early action against during the opening phase of the weekend, handing the Italian outfit a financial penalty after a pit lane infringement involving .
The incident occurred during Friday’s sole practice session (FP1), which had been extended to 90 minutes as part of a revised sprint weekend structure. With limited preparation time before competitive running began, teams and drivers were under pressure to maximise track mileage—conditions that appeared to contribute to Leclerc’s misjudgment.
According to the stewards’ report, Leclerc exceeded the pit lane speed limit of 80 km/h, registering 81.4 km/h—an excess of 1.4 km/h. While marginal, such breaches are automatically reviewed under FIA sporting regulations due to the safety implications associated with pit lane activity, where mechanics and personnel operate in close proximity to moving cars.
After reviewing telemetry data and onboard evidence, FIA officials opted for a standard financial sanction, issuing Ferrari a €200 fine. Crucially, no sporting penalty—such as a grid drop or time penalty—was applied, as the infringement was deemed minor and occurred during a non-competitive session.
The decision ensures Leclerc’s weekend remains unaffected from a performance standpoint, allowing Ferrari to maintain full focus on extracting pace from its significantly updated SF-26. The car introduced in Miami has drawn attention within the paddock, with Italian media describing it as a “one-and-a-half car” due to the scale of aerodynamic and mechanical revisions compared to earlier iterations this season.
Ferrari entered the Miami round sitting second in the constructors’ championship, aiming to close the gap to front-runners amid a tightly contested season. The sprint format adds further strategic complexity, with a total of 58 points available across sprint qualifying, the sprint race, and Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Leclerc’s early run-in with the stewards highlights the fine margins teams must operate within under compressed sprint weekend schedules. With only one practice session available, drivers often push procedural limits in a bid to gather as much data as possible sometimes at the cost of minor regulatory breaches.
Despite the infraction, the modest penalty is unlikely to derail Ferrari’s campaign in Miami. Attention now shifts to whether the team’s extensive upgrades can translate into competitive gains against rivals, as the battle at the front intensifies over the remainder of the weekend.