Lewis Hamilton has hit out at the “pretty nuts” F1 decision to give the Ferrari driver a 10-second penalty to drop him to eighth at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Lando Norris stormed to victory to snatch the lead in the drivers’ championship title race, but Hamilton was punished by the stewards for cutting Turn 4.
The Briton was dissatisfied at his perceived inconsistency towards his rivals and his belief that they also cut corners but avoided a penalties.
The explanation for Hamilton’s penalty stems from the belief he secured a lasting advantage after locking up at Turn 4 before deviating across the grass and rejoining the race ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
“I had a great start, and we were braking into Turn 1, I was in Turn 2, I navigated through 1 and 2 and 3, and then didn’t go off track… others cut it, and held position, and didn’t get penalties. It’s pretty nuts,” he said. “It’s kind of pretty much the same as all the other people around me, so…”
Despite his setback, Hamilton detailed his joy at the combat with Verstappen and others at the top of the race.
“That’s… It felt like racing,” Hamilton claimed. “I was fine there, it was just him cutting, and then I’m the only one to get a 10-second penalty – a 10-second stop and go.
“I pinched the front, I went to go down the exit road, but it’s like the dustiest place on earth, and then I pinched the other car down, so I ended up back in the grass, but it was the exit road.”
Hamilton also highlighted the “positives” from the race as he pushes to the finish line of a testing debut with the Scuderia.
“I really, really don’t know what to expect moving forward, but I’ll keep trying,” Hamilton said.
“I’ll get up tomorrow, train, I’m trying to prepare; I can’t let those that aren’t necessarily being helpful stop me from moving forward.”
