F1 star gets Monaco GP grid penalty for smashing up Charles Leclerc's Ferrari before qualifying

One racer was handed a grid penalty for the – before qualifying for the famous race even began. The punishment came as a result of an incident in Friday practice which caused a collision with .

It happened in FP1, which was briefly red-flagged as a result of the debris which was scattered across the Monte Carlo street track on the run down to the Loews Hairpin where the collision took place, Leclerc running into the back of another car.

But the stewards have made it clear they did not believe the collision was the driver's fault. Instead, is the one who has been punished for moving across the track without warning, leaving Leclerc powerless to stop himself from running into the back of the .

The clash caused extensive damage to both cars. Fortunately for Leclerc, most of the problems on his Ferrari were on the front wing which was easily switched out and he went on to set the fastest time of the session overall.

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But it was more costly for Stroll, who did not managed to get back out on track. TV images showed mechanics having to change a lot of damaged parts on the Aston Martin as a team spokesperson confirmed the Canadian's session was over.

And it got worse later on Friday when the stewards confirmed they had found Stroll to be "wholly to blame" for the collision. "The stewards... determined that Car 18 [Stroll] cut across the path of Car 16 [Leclerc] at turn six, causing Car 16 to collide into Car 18. Car 16 suffered damage as a result," they explained.

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"The driver of Car 18 stated that although the team warned him of the arrival of Car 16, he did not hear the radio message and that led to the incident. We considered that Car 18 was wholly to blame for the collision. Car 16 was not in a position to avoid the collision that took place. In the circumstances, we imposed a one grid position penalty for the race."

To make matters worse for Stroll, he also saw one penalty point added to his FIA superlicence for his role in the crash. He now has three to his name, with drivers who rack up a dozen within a 12-month period triggering an automatic one-race ban.

The one-place grid drop means whoever qualifies directly behind Stroll on Saturday will rise by one place in the starting order for Sunday's race. That could be more significant than usual as it is notoriously difficult to overtake on the tight Monaco street circuit.

Though a rule change for this year could spice things up with teams obliged to pit their cars at least twice on Sunday. F1 bosses hope it will lead to more changes in the racing order and raise the potential for more mistakes and strategy errors, making more exciting a race which has struggled to produce drama in recent years.