Charles Leclerc has admitted the penalty he recieved for passing team mate Lewis Hamilton off track during an opening lap battle for the Mexico City Grand Prix lead was “deserved”.
The Ferrari pair tangled in Turn 4 after the race start as both cars went wide while jostling for position, with the Monegasque driver jumping ahead by going over the grass.
Instead of handing back the position, Leclerc opted to keep going though his decision was influenced by the presence of eventual race winner Max Verstappen who had slotted into second amid the Ferrari duo’s battle.
Hamilton was left frustrated with the move, despite Leclerc being hit with a five-second penalty, as he claimed over the radio that running in clean air negated the punishment. The seven-time World Champion eventually went on to reclaim positions on the race restart, and took second while Leclerc was left to settle for fourth on the road.
“The penalty was deserved in a way,” said Leclerc, reflecting on the incident after the race.
“The thing is that it was a bit confusing because we both didn’t make Turn 4. Then I stayed ahead, and then Max got past Lewis. So yeah, then I asked what should I do? And I kept the position and took a deserved penalty.”
While a standard penalty for such an incident is often a 10-second penalty, the stewards decided the mitigating factors were sufficient enough to reduce the size of the penalty awarded. “The baseline penalty guideline is 10 seconds, however in mitigation is the fact that car 44 (Hamilton) was also off track on the inside of car 16 (Leclerc) and this occurred early in the first lap,” read the decision document explaining the call.
With Hamilton continuing to voice his disgruntlement over the radio, Leclerc insisted he would speak to his team mate and the rest of the team about what happened.
“I think we both didn’t make the corner,” he continued. “I don’t know if Lewis’ point was for me to get P3. But at least having a Red Bull in second, I felt it was worth it to kind of keep the position and see what happens. That’s what I did.”
The Monegasque was also adamant that the incident was part of racing, adding: “I mean, I could also be unhappy with how much he pushed me off the track out of Turn 1. But I think it’s racing. When you are fighting for a win, it’s the way it should be.”
With Ferrari’s intra-team talks now pending between both sides of the garage, the squad head to Brazil next weekend 124 points ahead of Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship in the fight for second place.
