Why Hamilton's Mexico GP penalty left a sour taste

"It's like in the past," said Helmut Marko, when an Autosport colleague asked his opinion on the controversial contretemps between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at the beginning of lap 6 of the Mexico Grand Prix. "When they come together, it's always action."

It felt like he was kicking the question into the long grass with a non-answer. Perhaps he, like some observers, felt Max had dodged a bullet from the stewards?

The wheel-banging which culminated in Hamilton spearing off-track at Turn 4, and Verstappen losing sufficient momentum to be passed by an Oliver Bearman who couldn’t believe his luck, triggered a review in the stewards’ room. Hamilton was exonerated from sanction for "failing to follow the race director’s instructions" – ie going off-track and not rejoining via the specified route – but then re-investigated for "leaving the track and gaining a lasting advantage", and for that offence he was found guilty and penalised 10s.

The stewards accepted that Hamilton’s speed prevented him from taking the race director’s prescribed route through the run-off, but determined that he should have handed the position back to Verstappen, who had been trying to overtake him since Turn 1.

Naturally any intervention from above in on-track matters between Hamilton and Verstappen brings back unfortunate memories of the 2021 season and its absurd conclusion. In the context of this race, where Verstappen massively overshot Turn 1, went a-mowing, then rejoined without sanction, there were those who pondered whether it was fair to penalise Hamilton and not the drivers who had exceeded track limits during that opening phase.

Ferrari was one of those, but it had appeared to not quite get the message. In race engineer Riccardo Adami’s communication to Hamilton he said the penalty was for not rejoining properly, and this misunderstanding formed the foundation of team boss Frederic Vasseur’s post-race tirade.

Not for the first time controversy followed an on-track battle between Verstappen and Hamilton

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images

"This cost us P4 [with Hamilton]," complained Vasseur. "You can discuss about, one thing is the penalty, for sure that we didn't follow the race director note. But 10 seconds, I don't remember when someone took 10 seconds.

"If you consider, if you have the global picture, seeing that Max cut the corner before, he cut the chicane, in the grass, 100 metres. I think it's not very well managed, honestly. Because you are in Mexico, on top of this, I don't say that you have to adapt the penalty to the track, but you have to understand what you are doing. He [Hamilton] took the 10 seconds, this dropped us at the back of the group and we can't overtake.

"This cost us, probably P4, even with 5 seconds, I think we were still P4. But with 10 seconds..."

"I’m the only one to get a 10s penalty. It’s kind of nuts" Lewis Hamilton

Actually, as the stewards’ document points out, 10s is the standard tariff for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Verstappen’s off-track moment at the start was also investigated and deemed "no further action", on the grounds that he ended up where he should have been (albeit not immediately after rejoining).

Reviewing the footage of the race start, you can clearly see he had to steer left, onto the kerbing, as he joined the three-car formation of Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Hamilton into Turn 1, and that compromised his ability to brake for the corner. Quite how Max imagined he might go around the outside of these three cars into Turn 1 with two wheels on the kerb is a question for the ages.

He then rejoined ahead of Hamilton – arguably he should have given that place back, but Hamilton passed him at Turn 6 anyway, obviating that question. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri, who also went off between Turns 1 and 2, paid the price in terms of track position and, in Lawson’s case, a broken front wing.

Verstappen's unpunished trip across the grass during their duel confused Hamilton

Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images

But while Vasseur was clearly confused about some aspects of the Hamilton’s penalty, he was arguably right about one thing: Verstappen’s trip across the grass after the initial contact at Turn 1, where he rejoined ahead of Hamilton on the straight between Turns 3 and 4.

The stewards investigated the Turn 1 incident in the context of Hamilton "causing a collision" with Verstappen by failing to leave him enough room. In-car footage from Verstappen clearly confirms the stewards’ findings: although he came from a long way back, his front axle was alongside Hamilton’s at the apex, a point which is covered under the FIA’s driving guidelines.

"At the apex, VER’s front axle was clearly in front of HAM’s mirror and therefore VER was entitled to the racing line," said the stewards. "HAM remained alongside through the corner, resulting in slight contact between the wheels of both cars. The contact had no consequences for either car.

"Considering that HAM had limited opportunity to leave additional space on track, that both cars were side by side throughout the corner and no sporting consequence resulted from the contact and noting that in similar incidents in the past no further action was taken, the Stewards determined that the matter falls within a racing incident."

While this is an entirely reasonable conclusion for Turn 1, there was no investigation into what happened at Turn 2 – where Hamilton kept his nose alongside and had the inside line, and Verstappen was carrying so much speed that he speared off, onto the grass. Max rejoined ahead of Lewis on the straight between Turns 3 and 4, where they narrowly avoided colliding again and Hamilton earned his penalty.

So you can understand why Hamilton felt hard done-by. After the race he explained that the racing and wheel-banging was fair enough, but the policing of corner cutting was – to him – inexplicable.

"It [Lap 6, Turn 1] felt like racing," he said. "I was fine there. It was just the cutting, and I’m the only one to get a 10s penalty. It’s kind of nuts."

Was Hamilton right to be bemused by the stewards' decisions?

Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images