The FIA have revealed the results of an investigation into Ferrari star Charles Leclerc after Friday’s sprint qualifying session.

Leclerc was beaten in the session by team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who took a shock pole position, but the Monegasque’s fourth place was a marked improvement on his performance last weekend in Australia.

However, Leclerc and Ferrari were summoned to see the stewards after the session over an accusation of driving unnecessarily slowly, exceeding the set limit of 1:54.00sec between the two safety car lines.

Leclerc was cleared of any wrongdoing, with the stewards accepting that there were extenuating circumstances for him exceeding the limit.

Positive signs for Ferrari in China

FIA drama or not, the first day of running in Shanghai has looked much more promising for Ferrari than last weekend in Australia, where the Italian team qualified seventh and eighth before botching a strategy decision to finish a chaotic race eighth and tenth.

Hamilton set the fastest time in two of the three sprint qualifying periods on Friday, with both Scuderia drivers showcasing impressive pace – although the Brit’s pole was still a massive surprise.

Leclerc did show a little confusion about a team radio call in SQ2, saying after being asked to swap positions on-track with Hamilton: “Yes, I’ll do it, but we’ve never done that. And I’m a bit in the s*** as well, so…”

Saturday morning will see the first sprint race of the season take place at 3am GMT, before qualifying for Sunday’s feature race at 7am.

FIA Penalty Verdict In Full

“The Stewards heard from the driver of Car 16 (Charles Leclerc), team representative and reviewed positioning/marshalling system data, video, timing, and in-car video evidence and determined as follows.

“Both LEC and HAM commenced their preparation laps close to each other. HAM followed LEC closely and LEC had STR ahead of him on a preparatory lap. LEC had to wait for STR to commence his push lap and in the meantime, LEC was overtaken by HAM on the orders of the team.

“LEC at all times maintained a reasonable speed and ultimately sought to create a reasonable gap behind HAM. All of this was done in an orderly fashion and no car behind LEC was affected by this. Therefore, LEC did not impede other drivers and gained no sporting advantage by his course of action.

“The Stewards therefore determine that LEC did not drive “unnecessarily slowly”, and that evidently the reason he was above the maximum time was due to his appropriate actions and take no further action.”