George Russell slammed what he described as a “turf race” on the first lap, Lewis Hamilton described the ensuing 10-second penalty for cutting a corner as “rubbish” and other drivers expressed displeasure at decisions made amid controversy at the Mexico City Grand Prix, but what are we really to make of all this?
Mercedes’ Russell, who had qualified fourth but finished seventh in a difficult race, became furious at the start after seeing Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen cross the grass at the opening compound corner and then rejoin the track in the lead without being penalized.
Russell likened this to “you can risk everything and if you make a mistake you can only get a get-out-of-jail-free card,” adding: “It’s like a lawnmower race. Something needs to change there.”
Other drivers also cut the opening corner at the back of the pack, but Fernando Alonso, who was similarly unimpressed, called it “a bit unfair” after the penalty was not applied.
Meanwhile, Hamilton felt he had been treated harshly, receiving a 10-second penalty on lap six after an early corner cut was taken without sanction. The Ferrari driver ran off the track and raced straight onto the grass at Turn 4 to gain position as he battled with Verstappen for third place.
The incident was the subject of the latest edition of The F1 Show, featuring former F1 drivers Martin Brundle and Jacques Villeneuve with host Simon Lazenby, as debate continued over the rights and wrongs of the incident in the days following the race.
Listen to the full episode below. The trio discusses key moments in Mexico after the race. Lando Norris took a commanding victory in Mexico, making him the new leader in a tense title race with four events remaining in the season.
Should there have been a penalty for corner cutting at the start?
After Verstappen and Hamilton entered the braking zone three cars abreast and went off the track at the first corner, Leclerc first rejoined the track from Turn 3 ahead of Norris in the lead. Although he continued to stay ahead of his teammate Hamilton, he soon pushed the McLaren back.
Meanwhile, Verstappen initially returned in front of Hamilton, but then fell back to fourth place. However, Russell felt the Red Bull driver should have given him the position as well.
Stewards ruled that no action was justified on the first lap.
Asked whether he thought either Leclerc or Verstappen should have been penalized at the start, 1997 world champion Villeneuve said: “Max didn’t. He was ahead of Russell anyway and he gave up all the places. So it was fine.”
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On the F1 podcast, Simon Lazenby joins Martin Brundle and Jacques Villeneuve to discuss whether Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc should have been given penalties after cutting a corner in Mexico.
“Leclerc, yes, because he was actually behind Lewis[in Turn 1]. He didn’t even try to turn the corner, he stepped into the corner and realized, ‘Oh, this is my teammate, nothing is going to happen to me.’
Asked if he agreed with Villeneuve that Leclerc should have been penalized, Brundle said: “100% yes. Max should have gotten a penalty too.”
“If you put four cars abreast and you put them on the far left, you end up on the curb and Max didn’t mean to do that. You can see he’s really accelerating – I have to say he’s driving really skillfully through the grass – but Max didn’t make any effort to go around corners one, two and three. That should have been a penalty.”
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Lando Norris held off the Ferrari pair at the Mexican Grand Prix as teammate Oscar Piastri dropped down the order and Max Verstappen made a run for it.
In response to Brundle’s comments, Villeneuve added: “I only half agree. The problem is that intent and intent are two different things and you can’t really put intent into the rules. It’s difficult. I was just following the rules. According to the rules,[Verstappen]was going to go ahead of George and[Hamilton]was going to go backwards, so according to the rules he didn’t deserve a penalty.”
“In terms of behavior, yes. So how do we proceed? Do we follow the rules or do we follow what we know to be right and wrong? And now we have to follow the rules, because the rules are put in place and the rules are actually very poorly written.”
How can we avoid further turn 1 disruptions in Mexico in the future?
“The problem is that corner,” Villeneuve said.
“If there was gravel or a wall there, it wouldn’t be four times as wide. It would probably be twice as wide, and everyone else would back away knowing there was no way out.”
“Now they’re thinking, ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter, if I brake too late, I might be ahead, I might be out in front, I might as well miss them. I’ve got nothing to lose, it’s worth the risk.’ That’s why you have that crazy first corner on that track, which is a problem we have every year. It’s just the drivers swooping down from the outside knowing they can just go straight.”
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George Russell has expressed frustration that three drivers went off the track at the start of the Mexico City Grand Prix with impunity.
Brundle added: “The terrain there[outside the T1 track]is absolutely hopeless. You need zones, you need places you have to go through. Maybe even a zone where you have to go 100 meters or 50 meters or something with the speed limit in the pit lane could be almost as big a deterrent as the Monaco barrier. Then they can’t get out there. It’s that simple.”
He added that he sympathizes with those who are frustrated that their acts of omission go unpunished.
“I completely understand the feeling of the drivers who were minding their own business and actually stayed on the racetrack and thought, ‘Hang on a minute, I’m going to lose here, I better make my own racetrack in the first two corners and get up in the standings,'” Brundle said.
Was Hamilton’s 10 second penalty fair?
Sky Sports’ F1 pundits also weighed in on the magnitude of the penalty Hamilton received for cutting Turn 4 on lap six, which cost him a place when he took the penalty on his first pit stop. He ultimately finished in 8th place.
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Karun Chandhok analyzes whether Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton’s 10-second penalty for his wheel-to-wheel battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was given fairly.
Stewards said they had imposed a “standard penalty” on the Ferrari driver for the breach, as set out in F1’s penalty guidelines. A document published by the FIA in June said the sanction level for a driver gaining a permanent advantage in the race by leaving the track is a “10-second penalty to drive through (baseline)”, but a shorter five-second penalty could be imposed if “mitigating circumstances” were deemed to exist in the incident.
Brundle said: “Lewis had a big advantage and he shouldn’t have had much trouble falling back and coming back again, both in position and in the 100-200 meters. So, unless there are mitigating circumstances, it should be a 10-second penalty instead of a 5-second penalty. So as far as my brain is concerned, this is my clear opinion, but others will no doubt disagree.”
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Watch the wheel-to-wheel collision between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen from every angle. The collision resulted in the Ferrari driver being given a 10 second penalty.
Villeneuve added: “It’s a deserved penalty. 10 seconds seems harsh, but it was a long time in that race. Obviously we couldn’t give Max a place back (Verstappen was passed by Bearman at the next corner). If he hadn’t crossed the track, he would have gone wide anyway and lost a position or two.”
“The problem was that he came out with a 100-meter lead and just kept it. It wasn’t just about getting the position, it was a huge advantage for the whole pack and that was the big issue.”
F1’s thrilling title race continues in Brazil with a sprint weekend at the São Paulo Grand Prix from November 7th to 9th, broadcast live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – cancel anytime with no contract
