Lewis Hamilton unhappy with penalty that destroyed his Mexican Grand Prix, while George Russell describes Turn 1 incident as "lawnmower racing".
While the stewards effectively turned a blind eye to the goings on at the start, they were not so obliging a few laps later. On the opening lap, following the shenanigans between the two Ferrari drivers on the run to Turn 1, Max Verstappen took a detour and as did Charles Leclerc and several others. Indeed, the Monegasque emerged ahead of Lando Norris, who had made the perfect start, and subsequently had to hand the position back.
On Lap 6 however, Verstappen attacked Hamilton at Turn 1 and again at Turn 4 and it was during the second of these attacks that the Ferrari driver locked-up and took to the run-off area.
While Hamilton maintained position, Verstappen lost out to Oliver Bearman, however then came the news that the Ferrari driver was under investigation for three rules breaches, causing a collision, not following the race director's instructions in terms of use of the escape road, and leaving the track and gaining an advantage..
According to the stewards, Hamilton locked brakes on the approach to Turn 4 and went into the run-off area, carrying too much speed he was unable to use the prescribed escape road and for that reason had a justifiable reason for failing to comply with the race director's instructions. Given the circumstances, the stewards took no further action. One down.
In terms of causing a collision. Verstappen overtook Hamilton on the inside of Turn 1. At the apex, the Red Bull's front axle was clearly in front of Hamilton's mirror and therefore the Dutchman was entitled to the racing line. Hamilton remained alongside through the corner, resulting in slight contact between the wheels of both cars. However, the contact had no consequences for either driver.
Considering that Hamilton had limited opportunity to leave additional space on track, that both cars were side by side throughout the corner and no sporting consequence resulted from the contact and noting that in similar incidents in the past no further action was taken, the stewards determined that the matter fell within a racing incident. Two down.
Hamilton locked brakes and left the track at Turn 4 and used the grass area while rejoining in the direction of Turn 5. As he was unable to follow the route prescribed by the race director along the "yellow line" due to an excess of speed, no breach of the race director's notes was deemed to have occurred.
However, by leaving the track and cutting the corner, the Briton gained a lasting advantage, overtaking Verstappen and failing to give back the position. The standard penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage was therefore imposed. 10 second penalty.
"I mean, that's pretty much the same as all the other people around me," declared Hamilton at race end. "It didn't make sense.
"I had a great start," he continued. "You're braking into Turn 1, I was into P2, I navigated through Turns 1, and 2, and 3. I didn't go off track. Others cut it and held position and didn't get penalties. It was pretty nuts.
"I'm the only one to get a 10-second penalty," he reiterated. "It was kind of nuts. 10 seconds, stop and go!
"I went to go down the exit road, but it's like the dustiest place on earth, and I couldn't slow the car down, so I ended up patting the grass, but that's the exit road."
Former teammate, and one never to shy away when complaining about the antics of others, George Russell was unhappy that the likes of Verstappen and Leclerc weren't punished for the opening lap mayhem.
"I don't understand how three drivers can cut the first corner and just continue in the position they entered," said the Mercedes driver. "It's like allowing you to risk everything and you just have a get-out-of-jail-free card if you get it wrong.
"Obviously when Max and Lewis came together, Lewis got a penalty and rightly so," he continued, "but Max was off the track and came back on. It was the wrong place and the wrong time for me and I lost three positions."
Russell believes that much of the problem is down to the actual track.
"Obviously I was pretty frustrated but it all stemmed from lap one," he said. "Ultimately it's down to the circuit and there is this get-out-of-jail-free card. If there was gravel then nobody would be there.
"We've seen it almost every year we've been here," he added. "It was Carlos last year and Charles the year before or Lewis ten years ago. It's like a lawnmower race. Something needs to change there. That's not really how it should be."
Time for another interview with Ted Kravitz perhaps.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Mexico City here.
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