‘What about the other cars that cheated?’ - Lewis Hamilton frustration revealed

Lewis Hamilton repeatedly asked Ferrari if his rivals would be penalised for cutting Turn 1 at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton was irked by drivers who straightened the first corner at the start of Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, including his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

Both Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took to the grass before remerging on track in first and third respectively. Leclerc conceded position to McLaren's Lando Norris but remained ahead of Hamilton, which annoyed the Briton.

“I was ahead of Charles,” Hamilton said, to which his race engineer Riccardo Adami simply replied: “Understood.”

There was no communication on Leclerc’s radio channel about what happened at the start.

Verstappen did allow Hamilton back into third place on the run to Turn 4, but Hamilton still felt his former title rival should have been punished.

On Lap 2, Hamilton pointed out: “Max took a shortcut. Loads of people gained advantage,” before asking on the following lap: “What are they doing about the cars?”

Adami responded: “The incident is noted, they are checking it.”

Hamilton and Verstappen went on to have an intense duel, with Hamilton picking up a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage at Turn 4 on Lap 7.

Following their clash, Hamilton once again asked “what are they doing about people who took advantage Turn 1?”

Adami said: “Nothing yet. Let’s focus on our race, keep the traction metrics low. Turn nine is good, what you’re doing.”

Hamilton was left frustrated by his penalty, insisting in his defence that “the grip there is so low”.

On Lap 22, Hamilton questioned: “What about all the other cars that cheated?”.

Hamilton dropped down the order after serving his penalty during his first pit stop and eventually finished eighth.

He asked again on Lap 24 for an update on Turn 1 and apologised twice to Ferrari for ‘losing you’ third, adding “what a shit race.”

Hamilton blasts penalty

Hamilton slammed his penalty as being “pretty nuts” and felt he was singled out by the FIA.

“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 was not the only driver who felt his rivals got away with gaining a lasting advantage, with former Mercedes teammate George Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso also annoyed by the outcome.