Lewis Hamilton’s main complaint about Charles Leclerc’s penalty has been clearly shown to be true as new data comes out.
Lewis Hamilton’s biggest issue with the FIA’s decision to give Charles Leclerc a five-second penalty for their clash on the first lap of the Mexico City Grand Prix has been backed up by new data.
Hamilton finished second behind Max Verstappen, while Leclerc ended up fourth. The real drama happened at turn four on the opening lap, when Leclerc went off the track and gained a lead by taking the corner too fast while trying to overtake Hamilton on the outside for first place.
Hamilton also went off the track but got back on properly, dropping behind Verstappen. Because Leclerc wasn’t told to give the position back, he kept the lead and opened up a big gap ahead of Verstappen and Hamilton.
Hamilton was clear about how he felt about Leclerc’s move and was very upset on the team radio when the FIA only gave Leclerc a five-second penalty, instead of the usual 10 seconds. The stewards said Hamilton also went off the track, so they reduced Leclerc’s penalty.
This decision hurt Hamilton in two ways: he had to save his tyres running behind Verstappen’s dirty air, while Leclerc pushed ahead with a clear track. By the first pit stops, Leclerc was more than eight seconds ahead of Hamilton and, as the race leader, got to pit first. Leclerc even served his penalty during the stop and stayed ahead of Hamilton after both had pitted.
New lap time data from Mexico City shows Hamilton’s point exactly. Out of the first 26 laps before refueling, Hamilton was faster than Leclerc on only three laps—and one was when Leclerc was slowing down to pit. When Hamilton had cleaner air, he was faster on medium tyres for six straight laps until he needed to save his tyres again.
After the red flag, Hamilton was 10 seconds faster than Leclerc over the final 20 laps and set the fastest lap every time—even though Leclerc’s front left tyre was damaged after locking up badly at the restart.
This data shows that if Hamilton had been in clear air like Leclerc for the first part of the race, Ferrari could have easily taken first and second place.
After hearing about Leclerc’s five-second penalty, Hamilton said, “The problem with the five-second penalty is that he has clean air. He doesn’t have to manage his tyres like the rest of us. He should just give the position back.”
Hamilton added, “The stewards basically handed Charles this win. We agreed in the drivers’ briefing.”
In his post-race interview, Hamilton said, “We worked so hard as a team and could have had a one-two finish today. We had the pace for it.”
He explained, “Coming into turn four first and second, if we’d kept our positions, anything could have happened. But when your teammate works against you and you lose places like that, it’s really tough.”
Hamilton wrapped up by saying, “With experience, you learn every decision in the car affects everyone behind the scenes. Working as a team is part of our job and contract, and we could have done that today. It’s sad to lose like this, and it will keep happening unless real conversations happen so this doesn’t happen again.”