“I was ahead of Charles”: Hamilton repeatedly asked Ferrari about turn one penalties

Lewis Hamilton asked Ferrari seven times whether any action was being taken against drivers who cut the first corner at the start – including his team mate.

Charles Leclerc was one of five drivers who missed turn two at the start of the race. He left the track behind Hamilton and Lando Norris, rejoined in front of them, but only let the McLaren driver by.

“I was ahead of Charles,” Hamilton pointed out to Ferrari as he accelerated out of turn six on the first lap. He had just moved into third place ahead of Max Verstappen, another driver who had gone off at turn one and overtaken him.

There was no discussion on Leclerc’s radio about whether he should drop behind his team mate.

Hamilton continued to ask his race engineer Ricardo Adami whether any action would be taken against other drivers who had gone off. At this point the only driver in front of him who had gone off the track at the start was his team mate.

“Max took a shortcut,” Hamilton pointed out as he began the second lap ahead of the Red Bull driver. “Loads of people gained advantage.” Three other drivers – Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Carlos Sainz Jnr and Liam Lawson – also cut the corner at the start but resumed behind Hamilton. Race control took note of the turn one incidents, which Adami related to Hamilton:

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Hamilton suffered a further frustration on lap six when he was attacked by Verstappen. The pair made contact at turn one. Verstappen then cut turn three and rejoined in front of Hamilton.

When Hamilton tried to go around the outside of Verstappen at turn four, both drivers went off, though the Ferrari driver ran further wide and rejoined ahead of his rival. Ferrari did not tell him to give the position back.

The incident did not distract Hamilton from pressing his case about what happened at turn one, and he continued to ask Adami for information:

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Hamilton was predictably unimpressed by the news the stewards had given him a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and rejoining in front of Verstappen. He asked Adami whether any action had been taken yet against “other cars that cheated” but did not receive an answer:

The Ferrari driver served his 10-second time penalty when he came in for what turned out to be his first pit stop. He described the penalty as “insane”, though he also incorrectly referred to it as a “10 second stop-and-go.” This is a different, much more serious penalty, which requires a driver to make a separate pit stop in which they cannot change their tyres.

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After learning how far he had dropped down the field as a result of his penalty, Hamilton apologised to his team:

Hamilton repeated his apology when he made a second pit stop later in the race. He was the only driver to receive a penalty for failing to respect track limits:

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2025 Mexican Grand Prix

• “I was ahead of Charles”: Hamilton repeatedly asked Ferrari about turn one penalties
• What Alonso said in his censored criticism of race control during the Mexican GP
• Bearman improving at “amazing” rate says Komatsu after equalling Haas’s best result
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