LEWIS HAMILTON has received a welcome boost following a disappointing Miami Grand Prix weekend after being bumped up the order because of a penalty slapped on his team-mate.

Hamilton, 41, crossed the line of Sunday’s race in seventh place, but has now been bumped up to sixth after fellow Ferrari star Charles Leclerc was hit with a 20-SECOND time penalty.

The Monegasque, who had been leading the race early on after Kimi Antonelli’s slow start and Max Verstappen‘s scary spin, lost control of his car at Turn Three of the final lap as he chased Oscar Piastri for third.

Leclerc managed to avoid crashing out of the race completely, as a hit against the wall straightened his car out.

However, the 28-year-old was left with damage on his vehicle, and was not able to properly turn into some corners, therefore forcing him to leave the track on no less than four occasions as he limped to the finish line.

He was caught on the line by George Russell and Verstappen, but to add salt to the wounds, race stewards hit him with a drive-through penalty – converted to 20 seconds – for leaving the track “without a justifiable reason”.

An FIA statement released more than two hours after the race had finished said: “The driver informed us that the car appeared fine save that the car would not negotiate the right-hand corners properly.

“Given this problem, he was forced to cut chicanes on the way to the chequered flag.

“We determined that the fact that he had to cut the chicanes (i.e. to leave the track) meant that he gained a lasting advantage by leaving the track in that manner.

“The fact that he had a mechanical issue of some sort did not amount to a justifiable reason.

“We accordingly impose a Drive Through penalty on Car 16, given the number of times the car left the track and gained an advantage.”

The penalty handed Brit Hamilton two additional points in the standings, while Leclerc lost four to see the Scuderia pair go level with 51 each, while Alpine driver Colapinto also went up the order by one to score two extra points.

On the last lap crash, Leclerc said: “Very disappointed with myself. The last lap mistake is obviously all on me and it cost us P3 or P4.

“More likely it would have been a P4, but a P3 was still right there.

“Very disappointed with myself. Mistakes happen, but in the last lap of the race like that, it’s frustrating and not the level where I should be at.

“It’s been a very strong start to the season, not many mistakes and luckily this one doesn’t cost us too many points, but it could have ended in the wall and that’s it. It’s a shame.”

The statement added: “We also considered whether there was an additional breach in continuing to drive a car with an obvious and discernible mechanical issue.

“We determined that there was no evidence of there being an obvious of discernible mechanical issue.

“We therefore took no further action in relation to that potential infringement.”

Verstappen was also hit with a five-second time penalty, but that did not change his final position.