Charles Leclerc’s controversial Mexico GP penalty explained

Formula 1’s stewards have explained why Charles Leclerc was only given a five-second penalty at the Mexico City Grand Prix. 

There was controversy at the start of Sunday’s race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez when Leclerc cut the track and passed team-mate Lewis Hamilton for the lead in a first-lap squabble between the Ferrari drivers. 

Hamilton retained the lead ahead of Leclerc through the first sequence of corners, before Leclerc swept around the outside of Turn 4. Leclerc ended up running wide and cutting across the grass, while Hamilton also went slightly wide and ultimately slipped behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. 

Ahead of the race, the stewards issued a rare clarification about how the first few corners would be policed at the start in an attempt to avoid the shenanigans seen on the opening lap at last year’s event. 

"Any car leaving the track in these areas and maintaining a position to a car or cars within close proximity behind (as determined by the stewards) may be considered as gaining a lasting advantage, unless such position is yielded by Turn 4 [in the case of a car leaving the track in the area of Turns 1 to 3], or by Turn 12 [in the case of a car leaving the track in the area of Turns 4 to 6.]” the FIA said in a note sent to teams before Sunday’s grand prix. 

Leclerc was investigated for the incident but the stewards’ decision to only hand Leclerc a five-second penalty, rather than the standard 10-second punishment, raised some eyebrows. 

The penalty was questioned by both Verstappen, who expressed his surprise. 

"Normally, that penalty is 10 seconds, and now suddenly it's five. I find that very strange too. In the end, it makes no difference. Although we had to fight tooth and nail for it,” Verstappen said after the race. 

Hamilton also took a grievance at the penalty after the seven-time world champion was hit with a 10-second penalty at last year’s race in Mexico City for a similar incident. 

“The problem is he's got clean air, and doesn't have to manage like the rest of us. He should just give the place back,” Hamilton reported over team radio during the race, before adding: "The stewards have basically handed Charles this win.... we agreed, drivers' briefing.”

Despite Leclerc failing to return the position, the stewards only gave him a five-second penalty due to mitigating circumstances. 

“The Stewards have determined that both cars entered Turn 4 with excessive speed and therefore neither would have been able to make the corner on track, as demonstrated by the fact that car 44, which was on the inside had to go off track to make the corner,” the stewards’ report read.

“Car 16 was therefore not entitled to claim the corner due to the excessive entry speed. The driver then completed an overtake whilst off track and accordingly this warrants a penalty.

“The baseline penalty guideline is 10 seconds, however in mitigation is the fact that car 44 was also off track on the inside of car 16 and this occurred early in the first lap.”

Verstappen went on to win the race ahead of Hamilton and newly-crowned world champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli, while Leclerc ultimately finished fourth.