Why Lewis Hamilton was punished - and Max Verstappen wasn't - in clash
Lewis Hamilton's contentious penalty in Mexico City explained.
Lewis Hamilton’s hopes of a first podium of his Ferrari career were undone by a 10-second penalty following a clash with Max Verstappen.
The seven-time world champion was running in third place when he was hit with the penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage following a wheel-to-wheel battle with former title rival Verstappen.
Having already banged wheels at Turn 1, Hamilton locked up and ran wide as the pair continued their intense duel at Turn 4. Hamilton returned to the track ahead of Verstappen, who was overtaken by Haas’ Oliver Bearman.
“Car 44 [Hamilton] locked brakes on the approach to turn four and went into the run-off area,” the stewards noted. “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.
“However, by leaving the track and cutting the corner, the driver gained a lasting advantage, overtaking [Verstappen] and failing to give back the position thereafter. The standard penalty for leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage is therefore imposed.”
The stewards also felt that Hamilton should have left Verstappen more space at Turn 1, but ultimately decided to take no further action over the incident.
“At the apex, [Verstappen’s] front axle was clearly in front of [Hamilton’s] mirror and therefore Verstappen was entitled to the racing line,” they explained. “Hamilton remained alongside through the corner, resulting in slight contact between the wheels of both cars. The contact had no consequences for either car.
“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 falls within a racing incident.”
Hamilton-Verstappen duel analysed
Analysing the incidents on the SkyPad after the race, Karun Chandhok said: “Lewis is battling George Russell on the run down to Turn 4. They get to the braking zone, he goes for the move around the outside and it’s quite clear down that straight that Hamilton is in front of George, but Verstappen is in front of them both.
“Both Max and Lewis go wide and Hamilton’s gone down the escape road. Now the race directors’ notes say ‘if you go down there, then you need to follow that track’. Lewis doesn’t, he goes across the grass. He was investigated for this but the stewards let him off the hook.
“What they didn’t let him off the hook for was gaining an advantage, and he’s clearly gained both in terms in gap to the chasing pack of Bearman and Verstappen, but more importantly, gained a place. They judge he gained a place on Verstappen having been behind him.”
Chandhok added: “At no point does Lewis slow down there, so the team haven’t told him to back off or give up the place, or give up any time - he’s just carried on. The stewards have been listening to that and seen that he didn’t make any attempt to back off there.
“I think Ferrari could have done a better job of just getting on the radio to Lewis and just advising him a bit more about giving the time up.
“The communication we heard was that he had been penalised for an incident, but that wasn’t actually the case, it was about not backing up and giving up the time he gained.”
On the Turn 1 clash, Chandhok explained: “It’s a big lunge but we’ve seen Max do this before. There is a bump, Hamilton has to open the wheel. That’s then forced him off wide.
“So the stewards looked at it and judged that they didn’t believe that Verstappen deserved anything for that bump and forcing Lewis off wide there.
“On this occasion the stewards thought that Verstappen was entitled to room, he had got to the apex first and he was in front there. He was clearly in front through the second apex.
“Hamilton on this occasion has forced him off wide so it’s kind of a tit-for-tat situation there and Verstappen has come out in front.”
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