Max Verstappen won in Mexico City on Sunday, but on the way to the podium he found time to question the stewards. The Red Bull driver thought Leclerc should have handed the lead back to Hamilton after a lap-one scrap at Turn 4, and he was puzzled that the penalty for not doing so came in at only five seconds.
“That’s not really allowed. You have to give the position back to the person you lost it to. Normally, that penalty is 10 seconds, and now suddenly it’s five. I find that very strange too,” Verstappen told Dutch broadcaster Viaplay, in comments carried by GPblog.
Verstappen had made the same point live. Informed on the radio that the stewards had settled on five seconds, he replied, “Ha! I thought all the new penalties were 10 [seconds],” according to RacingNews365.
What Leclerc actually did
Hamilton started from pole and led into Turn 1 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with Leclerc attacking from the outside. By Turn 4, both cars ran off. Leclerc cut across the grass and emerged in the lead; Hamilton dropped behind Verstappen.
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The FIA stewards ruled that Leclerc had completed the move while off the track and was not entitled to the corner. Their written decision, reported by RaceFans, stated: “Car 16 was therefore not entitled to claim the corner due to the excessive entry speed. The driver then completed an overtake whilst off track, and accordingly this warrants a penalty.”
The baseline guideline for that offence is ten seconds. The panel cut it in half because Hamilton was also off the track on the inside and because the incident happened early in the first lap.
Leclerc concedes, Hamilton fumes
Leclerc did not fight the call afterwards. “The penalty was deserved in a way. The thing is that it was a bit confusing because we both didn’t make Turn 4,” he told Formula1.com, adding that holding the position had seemed worth the gamble.
Hamilton was less philosophical in real time, telling his Ferrari pit wall over the radio that “the stewards are basically handing Charles this win”.
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Antonelli’s title day
The Verstappen-Leclerc exchange played out as the sport’s main story unfolded one step above them on the podium. Kimi Antonelli finished third for Mercedes, enough to seal his first world title, making the 20-year-old the youngest F1 World Champion in history.
The next round is the São Paulo Grand Prix across the weekend of 6-8 November 2026.
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