FIA explain Charles Leclerc penalty decision as Lewis Hamilton left fuming after Ferrari clash

The FIA has confirmed why the race stewards decided that Charles Leclerc should receive a five-second time penalty during Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix, with his Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton left fuming by the decision.

The incident in question happened after a dramatic start to the race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, with Hamilton starting on pole and Leclerc one row behind him in P3.

By the time the two Ferrari drivers got to turn one, Hamilton had kept his lead, with Leclerc close behind him in P2. Heading into turn four, Leclerc tried to make his move once again, going around the outside, but ultimately running off the track and therefore cutting the corner at turn five.

Leclerc gained first place as a result of this, and while Hamilton also went off track after turn four, he made it back between the white lines for turn five rather than cutting the corner and yielded second position to Max Verstappen.

Immediately, Hamilton was not happy, fuming over the radio: "Pushed out by my own team-mate." There were further radio messages from Hamilton as the incident was investigated by the race stewards, and eventually, Leclerc was handed a five-second penalty. Hamilton's unhappiness continued.

"The stewards are basically handing Charles this win. We agreed in the drivers' briefing," a frustrated Hamilton told his team, arguing that the penalty was not enough given Leclerc had gained the advantage of running out front in clean air.

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FIA explain stewards' Charles Leclerc penalty

The FIA race stewards later explained why they had opted for a five-second penalty for Leclerc on this occasion, and not a 10-second time penalty, which is the usual punishment in such a scenario.

"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 [Hamilton], which was on the inside, had to go off track to make the corner," the FIA confirmed.

"Car 16 [Leclerc] 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."

Hamilton went on to finish the race in P2, behind Verstappen, who got ahead of him in the early stages after that incident with Leclerc.

His team-mate, meanwhile, came home in P4 after Kimi Antonelli overtook him to claim the final podium spot on the day he was crowned F1 world champion.

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