Lewis Hamilton feels singled out by ‘kind of nuts’ F1 penalty
Lewis Hamilton hits out at "pretty nuts" penalty he received in Mexico City.
Lewis Hamilton has slammed his 10-second time penalty at the Mexico City Grand Prix as being “pretty nuts”.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton was hit with the heavy punishment for leaving the track and gaining an advantage amid his duel with former title rival Max Verstappen in Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Hamilton locked up and ran across the grass as the pair battled at Turn 4, before re-emerging ahead of Verstappen, who was then overtaken by Haas driver Oliver Bearman.
Hamilton retained third place on track but received a 10-second penalty that was applied during his pit stop.
The penalty ruined the 40-year-old Briton’s hopes of claiming his first podium as a Ferrari driver as he went on to finish eighth.
Hamilton was left bemused as to why he was punished for leaving the track, but other drivers including Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, and Verstappen, were not for doing the same at Turn 1 at the start.
“I mean, that’s pretty much the same as all the other people around me, so… Didn’t make sense,” Hamilton told reporters after the race in Mexico City.
“I had a great start. 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.”
Hamilton feels hard done by
Hamilton found himself investigated for multiple incidents with Verstappen, including a clash that saw the pair bang wheels at Turn 1, moments before the off-track excursion that led to his costly penalty.
“It felt like racing,” Hamilton said. “I was fine there; it was just the cutting, and then I’m the only one to get a 10-second penalty. 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.”
Hamilton gave a pretty abrupt post-race interview to Sky Sports F1.
"It was fun at the start and it didn't end up the way I'd hoped. That's motor racing,” he said.
"It's very, very dirty offline and I did the best I could to bring the car back to the track safely. That's all I could hope for.
"Yes, there are some positives. We got some points, at least."
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