F1 stewards admit to key error during Belgian GP in private meeting

The FIA stewards have now admitted they made an error at the Belgian Grand Prix which could have had a significant impact on the final race result.

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli won the Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps to extend his lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship to 45 points.

Behind him was Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who benefitted from a virtual safety car (VSC) period to pit and take the lead before he was re-overtaken by the Italian.

That was not the only way in which the Monegasque driver benefitted, as he avoided a penalty for causing a collision with McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

On lap 8, Piastri attempted an overtaking move on Leclerc down the outside of the Kemmel Straight.

But Leclerc squeezed the McLaren driver as far to the left of the track as he could, before initiating contact.

Piastri suffered floor damage as a result of the contact. He eventually finished the race in fifth position, having been overtaken by Leclerc's Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps.

The Australian said that Leclerc was 'lucky' to have avoided a penalty, and should have received a black-and-white flag - a final warning - at the very minimum.

Leclerc made contact with Piastri on lap 8 (Image: Getty)

Leclerc said on Thursday that he had gone 'maybe a bit too far' in his defence of his position, stating: "I kind of agree with Oscar, I think. At the end of the day, my view in the car is that I try to push things to the limit.

"With Oscar, it was a bit on the other side, so that's probably not the way I want to race all the time."

FIA accept Belgian GP mistake

According to The Race, the stewards accepted during a pre-race meeting for the Hungarian Grand Prix that they made a mistake in not sanctioning Leclerc, and that he 'likely' should have received a five-second penalty.

Their view at the time was that the Ferrari driver was taking his normal racing line, and that Piastri did not have a realistic chance of pulling off the move.

Piastri was alongside going into the corner, but Leclerc broke slightly later and then pulled across him.

It is claimed that there was 'some unease' among the other drivers about possible precedents being set for defensive manouevres in the braking zones.

Despite his public comments, Leclerc is said to have argued at the meeting that the incident at Spa 'was not entirely black-and-white'.

What stewards said about Leclerc/Piastri incident

In the FIA's official decision document published following the verdict last Sunday, it was written: "On the approach to turn 5, Car 81 [Piastri] moved to overtake Car 16 [Leclerc] on the outside.

"Car 81 had some overlap on Car 16 but the front axle of Car 81 was not ahead of the front axle of Car 16 and there was no possibility of Car 81 completing an overtake from that position.

"In the Stewards' determination, Car 16 did not deliberately crowd Car 81 off the edge of the track. Car 16 followed the racing line before the entry to turn 5 by moving slightly to the left to open up for turn 5 and side to side contact occurred between the two cars.

"In the circumstances, the Stewards determined to take no further action."