Verstappen questions Leclerc’s five-second penalty after his sixth Mexico win

Charles Leclerc’s five-second penalty after an opening-lap fight with Lewis Hamilton at the Mexican Grand Prix drew post-race criticism from Max Verstappen. Verstappen said Leclerc should have returned the position and called the reduction from what he described as the usual 10 seconds “very strange”.

Leclerc and Hamilton went wheel to wheel at Turn 4 and both ran wide. Hamilton rejoined correctly, while Leclerc cut the corner and did not give the position back. Verstappen had already passed Hamilton by then. The stewards cited Hamilton’s own run wide as a mitigating circumstance for imposing the five-second penalty.

Leclerc served the penalty as Verstappen passed him for the lead; the Red Bull driver went on to win in Mexico for the sixth time in his F1 career. In his post-race Viaplay interview, Verstappen sighed when reminded that the stewards had considered Hamilton’s run wide and laughed that the penalty ultimately made no difference.