Lewis Hamilton questioned why he was given a penalty for going off the track and gaining an advantage at the Mexico City Grand Prix, given that there were no penalties for other riders at the start of the race.
Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen both cut Turn 2, but Lando Norris held on to the lead and Hamilton moved into second place on the four-wide entry. Leclerc returned to the front and overtook Norris, but Verstappen also returned to the track and fell behind Hamilton, and was not penalized.
Hamilton was then given a 10 second time penalty for going off the track at Turn 4 during his battle with Verstappen, and the stewards deemed Hamilton had gained a permanent advantage by passing Verstappen with that move.
“I was pretty much like everyone else around me…” Hamilton said of the incident.
“I had a great start, braked well in Turn 1 and moved up to second. I got through Turns 2 and 3 well, didn’t go off the track, let others cut, gained positions and didn’t get any penalties. It was pretty crazy.”
There was light contact between Hamilton and Verstappen when the Red Bull driver first attempted to overtake at the start of the sequence that led to the penalty, but Hamilton had no complaints about the battle at that stage.
“It… felt like I was racing. I was fine there. I just got cut and I was the only one who got a 10-second penalty.”
“I pinched the right front and tried to get to the exit road, but it was the dustiest place on earth. I couldn’t slow the car down and ended up mowing the grass.”
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur also felt that the punishment handed down to Hamilton was harsh, especially considering the impact he had had on the road, dropping him from third to finishing eighth.
“If you think about the global situation, if you look at where Max cut the corner earlier, he cut the chicane 100 meters on the grass. I don’t think it was very well managed, to be honest,” he said. “I’m not saying you have to adapt the penalties to the track on top of that because you’re in Mexico, but you have to understand what you’re doing.
“[Hamilton]took 10 seconds. That puts us at the back of the pack and we can’t pass. We don’t have a chance to recover until after the pit stop. We lost probably fourth place. I think even with the five-second penalty we would still be fourth. But at 10 seconds…