Lewis Hamilton was handed a 10-second time penalty during the Mexico City Grand Prix after he went off track while battling with Max Verstappen, which ended his chances of a first podium for Ferrari
The Formula 1 stewards have revealed why they penalised Lewis Hamilton during the Mexico City Grand Prix. The Brit found himself under investigation after leaving the track whilst battling with Max Verstappen, with the Dutchman subsequently demanding his rival face punishment.
The stewards ultimately granted his wish, though Hamilton was initially investigated and cleared for failing to use the designated escape road at the side of the circuit, as outlined in the race director’s instructions.
In explaining their decision not to punish the Ferrari driver for that infringement, the stewards released a statement saying: “Car 44 [Hamilton] locked brakes on the approach to turn four and went into the run-off area.
“The stewards determined that the car was carrying too much speed to enable the driver to use the prescribed escape road and for that reason the driver had a justifiable reason for failing to comply with the race director’s instruction. Given the circumstances, the stewards took no further action.”
Nevertheless, they ruled the Ferrari driver had departed the track and gained an unfair advantage by doing so, handing out a 10-second time penalty. Hamilton was sitting in third position when that sanction was imposed and, after serving the penalty during his first pit stop, multiple cars had overtaken him by the time he rejoined the track.
He ultimately crossed the line in eighth place. The stewards explained their decision in a separate document, which read: “Car 44 locked brakes, left the track at turn four and used the grass area while rejoining in the direction of turn five.
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“As the driver 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 is deemed to have occurred. However, by leaving the track and cutting the corner, the driver gained a lasting advantage, overtaking car 1 [Verstappen] and failing to give back the position thereafter. The standard penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage is therefore imposed.”
Hamilton was livid when informed of his penalty over the radio, responding to race engineer Riccardo Adami with: “That’s such s*** man. The grip is so small there… the grip there is so low!”.
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He appeared frustrated during media interviews and seemed reluctant to engage too much. Regarding his result, he commented: “It was fun at the start but didn’t end up the way I hoped. But that’s motor racing.”
And when questioned about the incident which led to his penalty, Hamilton added: “It was very, very dirty off-line and I did the best I could to keep the car on track and then to bring it back to the track safely. I got some points at least.”
