Lewis Hamilton was handed a 10-second time penalty by the stewards during the Mexico City Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton was hit with a penalty during the Mexico City Grand Prix, handed down by the Formula 1 stewards who found the seven-time champion guilty of leaving the track and gaining an advantage in his tussle with Max Verstappen in the early stages of Sunday’s race.
Hamilton, starting third, was among several drivers jostling for the lead on the sprint to the first corner. He found himself squeezed between pole-starter Lando Norris and team-mate Charles Leclerc, while Verstappen attempted to overtake all of them on the outside.
Verstappen ended up off track and rejoined in fourth place, while after the initial corners, Norris held onto the lead with Leclerc trailing him and Hamilton still in the podium positions. However, there was another tense moment a few laps later when Hamilton was vying with Verstappen for that third spot.
The seven-time F1 champion ended up veering off track after his tyres locked up. Instead of following the designated exit road, he then cut across the grass and rejoined the track still holding third place.
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Over the radio, Verstappen made it clear he wanted to see his rival penalised. And the Red Bull driver got his wish. Hamilton was investigated and cleared for not using the proper exit road, but was slapped with a 10-second time penalty because the stewards decided he had left the track and gained an unfair advantage from it.
Upon hearing about the penalty over the radio, the British driver didn’t hold back his thoughts on the decision. He replied to race engineer Riccardo Adami: “That’s such s*** man. The grip is so small there… the grip there is so low!”
He was still third on track but less than five seconds ahead of Oliver Bearman, the young Brit having a superb race having taken advantage of another battle between Verstappen and George Russell to overtake both of them in his Haas. It meant the 20-year-old was effectively running in the podium positions and that was confirmed when Hamilton peeled into the pits to serve his penalty.
Bearman followed suit not long after, having been able to hold off Verstappen on the soft tyres before switching to the medium. Haas had never scored a podium in their 10-year F1 history and would have been delighted with the chance presented to them.
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